DETROIT – Ascension Michigan and Henry Ford Health have agreed to a joint venture that would place Ascension’s Southeast Michigan hospitals under Henry Ford’s brand and leadership, the healthcare organizations announced Wednesday.
The two major Michigan healthcare systems have agreed to form a joint venture in which several Ascension Michigan healthcare centers will be rebranded as Henry Ford Health, officials said Wednesday, Oct. 18. Under the agreement, Henry Ford will take over the following Ascension Michigan facilities:
- Ascension Genesys Hospital.
- Ascension St. John Hospital.
- Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital - Warren and Madison Heights campuses.
- Ascension Providence Hospital - Novi and Southfield campuses.
- Ascension Providence Rochester Hospital.
- Ascension River District Hospital.
- Ascension Brighton Center for Recovery.
“All acute care hospitals’ related sites of care will also be included,” officials said Wednesday. “All of Henry Ford’s acute care hospitals and other care facilities and assets, including Health Alliance Plan, will be included in the partnership.”
Henry Ford already operates four hospitals in the Metro Detroit area, and has another hospital in Jackson. The system operates dozens of other facilities throughout the region. All existing Henry Ford health centers will “continue to operate as they have.”
Ascension Michigan’s remaining facilities in the southwest and northern parts of the state, including Ascension St. Mary’s Hospital and Ascension St. Joseph Hospital, will “remain valued members of Ascension’s national health ministry,” and won’t be rebranded as Henry Ford.
The facilities being added to Henry Ford’s catalogue will be led by the system’s current President and CEO Bob Riney and leadership team that is headquartered in Detroit. The new organization will employ a combined total of 50,000 people at over 550 sites, officials said.
“Together we can expand healthcare services and deliver innovations in care -- from prevention and early detection through the treatment of complex conditions -- to more people and communities across our state, including those who are most vulnerable,” Riney said.
Officials say they hope the deal -- which is labeled as an opportunity to expand and improve healthcare access, equity, job opportunities and more -- will be complete by the summer of 2024. As of Wednesday, the health systems were “in the process of submitting the agreement to state and federal regulatory agencies for review.”
The partnership announcement comes not long after two other major Michigan healthcare organizations -- Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health -- merged to establish Corewell Health. That system is now the largest healthcare system in the state of Michigan.