Good Sam, Ebenezer Parent Organizations Call Off Merger

The combination of Fairview Health Services and Sanford Health will not go forward as planned.

Sanford Health announced on July 27 that it was discontinuing its merger process with Fairview Health Services. The merger, announced late last year, would have potentially led to the combination of Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society and Ebenezer, two of the largest senior living non-profit operators in the country.

“The significant benefits we identified for a combined system with Fairview Health Services compelled us to exhaust all potential pathways to completing our proposed merger,” Sanford President and CEO Bill Gassen said in the announcement. “However, without support for this transaction from certain Minnesota stakeholders, we have determined it is in the best interest of Sanford Health to discontinue the merger process.”

Sanford’s holdings include 47 medical centers and more than 200 Good Samaritan Society senior living locations. The Fairview health system includes a network of 11 hospitals and more than 90 senior living locations managed by subsidiary Ebenezer, among other health care holdings.

The merger was initially slated to complete in March, but it ran into several delays this year as regulators and stakeholders sought more time to review the move. Under the original plan, Gassen would have served as president and CEO of the combined health system.

Good Sam also initiated a major downsizing initiative at the start of the year with a plan to consolidate its operations by going from operating in 22 states to seven. 

This is not the first time Sanford and Fairview have sought to join forces. The two companies also sought to merge in 2013, according to Minnesota-based local news publication Star Tribune.