After six months of negotiations, two Wisconsin-based health systems, Gundersen Health System and Bellin Health, have announced a merger agreement and expect to combine operations by December 1. The merger will create one of the largest health systems in the Midwest.
Bellin Health is an integrated healthcare delivery system established in 1908 and based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It has more than 5,000 employees and offers services in cardiac, orthopedics, sports medicine, digestive health, mental health and primary care medicine. It comprises Bellin Hospital (167 beds), Bellin Psychiatric Center, 29 Bellin Health primary and specialty care physician clinics and retail health clinics known as Bellin Health FastCare. Bellin operates Bellin Health Oconto Hospital, a critical care access hospital in Oconto, Wisconsin, Bellin Fitness, Bellin Health Home Care Equipment and Bellin College. The company belongs to Bellin Health Partners, a clinically integrated network that includes Bellin Health and its affiliates as well as Holy Family Memorial hospital in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
According to Bellin Health’s annual financial filings, the organization generated $803 million in revenue in 2021 but an EBITDA loss of $33.79 million.
Gundersen Health System is a physician-led, not-for-profit, comprehensive, integrated healthcare network headquartered in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Gundersen has more than 9,000 employees, including nearly 1,000 clinicians, serving 22 counties in western Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota and northeast Iowa.
The systems’ headquarters in Green Bay and La Crosse, Wisconsin, will remain and have a balanced leadership structure that places each of the two top positions — CEO and board chair — in different regions to ensure shared decision-making and equal representation. The Bellin and Gundersen names, logos, locations and people will remain the same. Together, the health system will manage 11 hospitals and more than 100 clinics across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan.
