Dive Brief:

• After moving ahead with a merger, Spectrum Health and Beaumont Health are launching a new health system temporarily named BHSH System, according to a Monday news release.
• The two Michigan-based nonprofit health systems provided applicable regulatory agencies with requested information and may now proceed with launching the new system Tuesday, the organizations said.
• BHSH will be led by Spectrum Health's CEO Tina Freese Decker, and a new board of directors includes seven members appointed from Beaumont and seven members appointed from Spectrum, according to the release. Decker also will serve on the board in addition to one more member that will be named later this year. 

Dive Insight:

The new combined system will have a major presence in the state of Michigan, with 22 hospitals, a sizable outpatient business, a health plan covering 1 million people and combined revenue of $13 billion.

It will come with some leadership shake ups as Beaumont's current president, John Fox, plans to leave the organization and a search for his replacement is underway, according to the release. His replacement will serve as the president of BHSH Beaumont Health.

Despite the pandemic, health systems have pushed ahead with mergers and acquisitions over the past two years, and are seeking more regional partnerships instead of buying up smaller, independent hospitals.

That trend is reflected in the fact that there were fewer deals in 2021, but the sheer size of the deals greatly surpassed the size of the prior year's deals, according to a report from hospital consultancy Kaufman Hall.

Previous merger attempts for Beaumont fell through, including one with Advocate Aurora Health.

The two inked a deal to explore a merger in June 2020, but four months later called off such talks, amid the pandemic and pushback from Beaumont doctors concerned about a lack of competition.

Another potential deal between Beaumont and Ohio-based Summa Health fell through in May 2020 when the two paused talks at the onset of the pandemic. Both systems had secured approval from regulatory authorities to proceed with the merger in that case.

Patients will continue to have access to their same sites of care, physicians, providers and insurance plans while Spectrum and Beaumont create the new system, the release said.