At least 23 health systems have formed or taken a new identity since 2020 through mergers, new launches or rebrands, according to ownership data from the Lown Institute and Becker’s coverage.
The systems range from Advocate Health, a 69-hospital system created in 2022 when Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health combined, to Memorial Health System of Southwest Oklahoma, a two-hospital system launched in December 2025.
The Lown Institute’s hospital ownership dataset tracks system membership from 2020 through 2025, mapping ownership of more than 3,000 acute care and critical access hospitals in the U.S., according to its website.
Here are 23 health systems formed since 2020, grouped by how they came to be:
Mergers
1. Comanche County Memorial Hospital and Southwestern Medical Center, both in Lawton, Okla., merged in early December 2025 to form Memorial Health System of Southwest Oklahoma. The independent, nonprofit health system comprises 606 licensed beds across two hospital campuses, including 464 acute care beds and 142 long-term care beds, according to its website. It has about 3,000 employees, grants privileges to more than 600 providers and is supported by about 125 volunteers.
2. Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego and Orange, Calif.-based Children’s Hospital of Orange County merged Dec. 31, 2024, to create Rady Children’s Health, a three-hospital system with multiple primary and specialty care centers. The system has more than 6,000 employees, including nearly 1,000 physicians, nearly 1,500 nurses and around 300 active volunteers, according to its website.
3. Elmira, N.Y.-based Arnot Health and Ithaca, N.Y.-based Cayuga Health System merged in January 2025 to form Centralus Health, a five-hospital system with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. The organization employs more than 6,500 individuals and features additional primary and specialty care practices. Affiliates include a home healthcare agency, two multispecialty medical groups, an addiction recovery organization, multiple skilled nursing facilities, a durable medical equipment company and an emergency medical transport service, according to its LinkedIn page.
While unified under Centralus Health, Arnot and Cayuga facilities maintained their existing names. In March 2025, the system went live on a joint Epic EHR implementation.
4. Black River Falls, Wis.-based Krohn Clinic, a multispecialty group, and Black River Memorial Hospital merged on Dec. 30, 2024, to form Black River Health.
The merger was in response to increased healthcare challenges with Jackson County faring worse in outcomes than the average county in Wisconsin. Black River Health maintains the operational independence of each founding organization while functioning as a unified entity. The model is aimed at helping attract new providers, offer more specialties and expand access to care.
5. St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare and Kansas City, Mo.-based Saint Luke’s Health System merged Jan. 1, 2024, creating a 24-hospital, $10.7 billion organization known as BJC Health System. In November 2025, the organization rebranded to BJC Health.
The system comprises 48,162 employees, including 6,077 physicians. Its net revenue is now $12 billion, according to its website.
6. Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health and Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Health Network merged Aug. 1, 2024, to create a 32-hospital system with more than 700 care sites that operates as Jefferson Health.
Jefferson Health now comprises 33 hospitals and more than 55,000 employees, according to its website. The system cut its operating losses in fiscal 2026 to $181.5 million (-1% operating margin), an improvement from a $208.3 million operating loss (-1.3% margin) in fiscal 2025.
7. Milwaukee-based Froedtert and Neenah, Wis.-based ThedaCare finalized their merger Jan. 1, 2024, to become Froedtert ThedaCare. The system now comprises 20 hospitals and more than 360 outpatient locations, according to a recent news release. It has more than 28,000 team members, physicians and clinicians.
8. Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora, dually headquartered in Milwaukee and Downers Grove, Ill., merged Dec. 2, 2022, to form Advocate Health in Charlotte, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the U.S. The system comprises 69 hospitals, more than 174,000 employees and annual revenue of more than $32 billion, according to its website.
In March 2026, Advocate Health merged Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist into a single credit group. In May, Atrium Health announced plans to combine with Raleigh, N.C.-based WakeMed. The deal passed a major hurdle in late September and now moves to a regulatory review process. Under the merger, Atrium Health would invest $2 billion into WakeMed to expand facilities, technology, workforce and broaden care access across North Carolina.
9. Excela Health and Butler Health System combined in May 2023 to form Greensburg, Pa.-based Independence Health System, a five-hospital organization. On Oct. 1, Morgantown, W.Va.-based WVU Health System acquired Independence Health System, bringing its hospitals, affiliated physician practices and outpatient facilities under WVU Health System, which now has a portfolio of 30 hospitals.
10. Mon Health merged with Charleston (W.Va.) Area Medical Center in 2022 to create Vandalia Health in Charleston. In December 2023, Elkins, W.Va.-based Davis Health, a three-hospital system, joined Vandalia Health. Mon Health transitioned its hospital and clinic signage to Vandalia Health in late January 2026.
Vandalia Health comprises 18 hospitals, more than 220 outpatient locations, more than 13,000 employees and more than 2,000 providers, according to its website.
11. La Crosse, Wis.-based Gundersen Health System and Green Bay, Wis.-based Bellin Health merged in December 2022, creating a $2.4 billion organization. The organization rebranded to Emplify Health in April 2024.
Emplify Health comprises 11 hospitals and more than 100 clinics across 67 cities and rural communities, according to its website.
12. Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore University HealthSystem and Naperville, Ill.-based Edward-Elmhurst Health merged in early January 2022 to create a nine-hospital system. In December 2023, the system rebranded to Endeavor Health.
Endeavor Health comprises nine community-based hospitals, more than 300 care locations, five clinical institutes and more than 27,000 employees, according to its website.
13. Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spectrum Health and Southfield, Mich.-based Beaumont Health merged Feb. 1, 2022, and was temporarily called BHSH System. In October 2022, the newly formed system was named Corewell Health.
Corewell Health comprises 21 hospitals, more than 300 ambulatory and outpatient locations, more than 60,000 employees, and more than 11,500 physicians and advanced practice providers. It has more than 1.4 million health plan members, according to its website.
New launches
14. The Centurion Foundation, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization, completed its acquisition on March 6, 2026, of Providence, R.I.-based Roger Williams Medical Center and North Providence-based Our Lady of Fatima Hospital from Prospect Medical Holdings. A nonprofit system, CharterCARE Health of Rhode Island, was established under the transaction.
The acquisition follows a yearslong process that started in 2022 after Centurion signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire Prospect’s CharterCare Health Partners system, which includes the two hospitals and several affiliated services.
15. California-based Tenor Health Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 2022 by CEO Radha Savitala, emerged in 2025 as a multihospital operator that focuses on turning around financially distressed hospitals in rural and suburban markets.
In January 2025, Tenor acquired the closed Sharon (Pa.) Regional Medical Center from bankrupt Dallas-based Steward Health Care and reopened it in May. Tenor then acquired Commonwealth Health, a three-hospital system formerly owned by Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems and based in Scranton, Pa., in early February 2026. The system includes: Regional Hospital of Scranton (186 beds), Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton (122 beds) and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital (369 beds).
Tenor operates four hospitals in Pennsylvania and Ms. Savitala has not ruled out future acquisitions.
16. Secaucus, N.J.-based Hudson Regional Health, a four-hospital system, was created in late May 2025 as part of the final step in CarePoint Health’s bankruptcy exit. The system included Secaucus-based Hudson Regional Hospital, Jersey City-based Christ Hospital, Hoboken (N.J.) University Medical Center and Bayonne (N.J.) Medical Center, and more than 70 affiliated locations.
Hudson Regional Health now has three operational hospitals, according to its website, after the system closed Heights University Hospital, formerly known as Christ Hospital, in mid-November 2025, but left the emergency department open. On March 14, 2026, the hospital’s ED closed as 2025 losses totaled more than $74 million. In mid-April 2026, Hudson Regional withdrew its certificate-of-need application to close the hospital, signaling a possible path forward for the facility.
17. Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente launched Risant Health, a nonprofit system, in April 2023. The system then completed its acquisition of Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger Health, a 10-hospital system, in April 2024, and Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health, a five-hospital system, on Dec. 1, 2024.
Risant Health leaders have said the system plans to acquire three to four more systems over the next five years to grow into a company with $30 billion to $35 billion in annual revenue.
18. Apollo Global Management established ScionHealth in late December 2021 when it merged Brentwood, Tenn.-based Lifepoint Health and Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred Healthcare assets. Lifepoint then acquired eight community hospitals from ScionHealth in June 2026.
ScionHealth comprises 62 long-term acute care hospitals and six short-term acute care community hospital campuses across 23 states. The system has more than 15,000 employees, according to its website.
Rebrands
19. Providence, R.I.-based Lifespan rebranded as Brown University Health in mid-October 2024. Lifespan and Brown University initially shared plans in October 2023 to expand their partnership and possibly change the name of the state’s largest hospital operator. Brown University Health has six hospitals and more than 1,620 patient care offices and locations, according to its website.
20. Vidant Health and East Carolina University, both in Greenville, N.C., unveiled the ECU Health logo in mid-April 2022, including changes to hospitals across North Carolina. ECU Health has nine hospitals, a children’s hospital, a cancer center, wellness centers, home health and hospice care, the ECU Health Foundation and more than 500 physicians and providers, according to its website.
21. Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare and Broomfield, Colo.-based SCL Health merged in April 2022. Intermountain Healthcare then changed its name to Intermountain Health on Jan. 23, 2023. Intermountain Health comprises 34 hospitals and 400 clinics, according to its website.
22. Kansas City, Mo.-based Truman Medical Centers rebranded to University Health on Oct. 1, 2021. The system has two acute care academic hospital locations, a behavioral health program, a long-term care facility and multiple primary care practices, according to its LinkedIn page.
23. Midland, Mich.-based MidMichigan Health was renamed MyMichigan Health on Dec. 1, 2021. MyMichigan Health has 12 hospitals and more than 13,200 employees and operational support staff, according to its website.
On deck
More mergers are pending.
Chicago-based Rush University System for Health and Evanston, Ill.-based Endeavor Health shared plans Oct. 14 to merge into a combined 12-hospital system with 400-plus care sites and 46,000 employees and clinicians. The transaction, which is expected to close in early 2027, includes a $1 billion investment from Endeavor. Once the deal is finalized, the system will operate under the Rush brand.
In late September 2026, Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health and Bloomington, Minn.-based HealthPartners shared plans to combine into a 22-hospital nonprofit health system with more than 135 clinics and 6,000 clinicians. The combined system will operate as HealthPartners and employ about 45,000 individuals.
The Atrium Health and WakeMed merger has moved to the regulatory review process.
Other significant deals since 2020 brought systems into existing brands rather than creating new ones, including New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health’s merger with Danbury, Conn.-based Nuvance Health in May 2025 to operate under Northwell and Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health’s merger in January 2025 with Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System to operate as Sanford Health.
Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health and Minneapolis-based Allina Health also signed a definitive agreement in late May 2026 to create a combined, 39-hospital nonprofit health system that spans California, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
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