Ascension and the Marshfield Clinic Health System in Wisconsin said on April 3 that they signed a definitive agreement for Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital, part of Ascension, to become part of Marshfield Clinic Health System.
The two systems said last year they were exploring the hospital sale. Terms were not disclosed, and Ascension Wisconsin declined in April to make additional comment before the close of the deal including on whether the hospital would continue as a Catholic facility.
Ministry Saint Joseph's is a 500-plus bed teaching hospital in Marshfield, Wis. It was founded by the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, who traveled to Marshfield in 1890 to open a hospital. Marshfield is a community of less than 20,000 residents about 130 miles west of Green Bay, Wis.
St. Louis-based Ascension operates 24 hospitals and hundreds of health care facilities in Wisconsin that employ 23,500 people. The nonprofit Marshfield Clinic Health System includes the Marshfield Clinic, which has more than 50 clinic locations in Wisconsin, and two hospitals. The Marshfield Clinic health system has more than 6,500 employees, according to a news release.