Tulsa, Okla.-based Marian Health System has merged with St. Louis-based Ascension Health. With the consolidation of the systems' assets, Marian's three regional health systems — Ministry Health Care of Milwaukee, St. John Health System of Tulsa and Via Christi Health of Wichita, Kan. — join Ascension Health.
The merger adds to Ascension Health more than two dozen hospitals and a network of other facilities in Kansas, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. One of the former Marian Health System regional systems, Via Christi, has been affiliated with Ascension Health for six years.
With the completion of the deal announced in August, Marian's sponsor, the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, becomes a participating entity in Ascension Health Ministries, the public juridic person of Ascension Health Alliance. The alliance is the parent of Ascension Health. As a new participating entity, the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother will appoint a representative to Ascension Health Ministries for three years. They also will act with the organization's other participating entities to appoint the "at-large" public juridic person members.
Nick Desien, president and chief executive of Ministry Health Care, now also will serve as Ascension Health ministry market leader for Wisconsin, Kansas and Oklahoma. Sr. M. Therese Gottschalk, SSM, who was president and chief executive of Marian, now will serve as executive advisor to Robert Henkel, the president and chief executive of Ascension Health.
Desien said the merger helped address two main priorities of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother as they transitioned to a new role: to strengthen Catholic health care and to retain a role in shaping Catholic health care. Henkel added that the merged organization's priority will continue to be to serve the people most in need.
Copyright © 2013 by the Catholic Health Association of the United States
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