For the second time in its history, Sanford Health is working toward a merger with Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services.
The two systems signed a nonbinding letter of intent to combine and create a system with more than $13.5 billion in annual revenue, ranking it among the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems.
Post-merger, the system would continue to be called Sanford Health and ultimately result in Sanford president and CEO Bill Gassen retaining the same role in the combined system.
Read more: US: Sanford Health, UnityPoint Health call off $11B merger
In an interview with SiouxFalls.Business, Gassen describes Sanford as “elated” by the prospect of coming together with Fairview after a similar deal in 2013 failed to materialize.
Neither Gassen nor Fairview CEO James Hereford were at the leadership table then.
They began talking over a dinner table in May after meeting each other over the past couple of years through industry groups.
