Sanford/Fairview Health System Proposed Merger Presses On

(Worthington, MN) —  Increasingly firm statements from Sanford President and C-E-O Bill Gassen last night (Wed) in Worthington about a proposed merger with the Fairview Health System — which the University of Minnesota officials are resisting because Fairview owns their teaching hospital on the Minneapolis campus.  Sanford’s Gassen says “University leaders have said publicly that this merger cannot move forward without the University.  With all due respect, yes it can.  Nothing — and I repeat, nothing — will change for the University of Minnesota as a result of this merger.”

University of Minnesota Physicians C-E-O Bevan Yueh (BEV-un HEW) responded the proposed merger is more than a private business transaction, telling Attorney General Keith Ellison, “We are here today to ask you not to advance this combination until Fairview and Sanford work with the University to address and resolve how we will continue to use all of our public resources in service to Minnesota.”

Sanford C-E-O Gassen says a merged system will honor the current agreement with the University through its 2026 expiration date — more than enough time, he says, to work on an agreement for the University to buy back its medical center from Fairview, “and to determine what the future clinical relationship could look like.”