DULUTH - Duluth-based Essentia Health and Marshfield, Wis.,-based Marshfield Clinic Health System said Wednesday they are discussing a merger.
Essentia is Duluth's largest employer, and companywide employs about 15,000 people. Marshfield, headquartered in central Wisconsin, employs about 12,000 and serves patients in northern and central Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The health systems signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate combining into an integrated regional system, according to a news release.
"I have known and admired the work of Marshfield Clinic for more than 30 years," said Essentia CEO Dr. David Herman in the release. "I am truly excited to work together for the benefit of our patients and our colleagues."
Together, they'd operate 25 hospitals and more than 160 sites, employing 3,800 providers.
Herman said the partnership would support their care models, services, research and technologies in their efforts to sustain rural health care.
In the release, Marshfield CEO Dr. Susan Turney said she sees Essentia as an organization "with world-class expertise that complements our own. And I see their long, rich history of serving communities with a mission very similar to ours."
The memorandum of understanding is the first step toward a potential merger, which would likely take months. No other information was shared Wednesday.
