Health care providers Providence, Ascension end merger talks

Washington-based Providence St. Joseph Health has stopped merger talks with St. Louis, Mo.-based Ascension health network, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Providence St. Joseph, headquartered in Renton, is the parent organization of the health system that operates Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital, Holy Family Hospital and associated clinics in Spokane. Mt. Carmel Hospital in Colville and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chewelah also are Providence facilities.

Merger of the two Catholic, nonprofit health systems would have created the nation’s largest health system with 191 hospitals in 27 states.

In December, a source with knowledge of the merger talks told The Spokesman-Review that discussions had been going on for months at that point. Should merger talks resume, it likely wouldn’t be soon, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the talks.

Providence St. Joseph has 50 hospitals, 829 clinics and 111,000 caregivers, according to its website. The health system operates in seven states, including Washington, Oregon and Montana.

Ascension describes itself as the largest nonprofit health system in the U.S. and the world’s largest Catholic health system. It has 153 hospitals in 22 states and the District of Columbia, according to its website.