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AdventHealth will take over three Denver-area hospitals owned by Intermountain Health, along with their associated clinics, free-standing emergency rooms and urgent care centers
The two health systems issued a new release Tuesday morning describing a “joint venture,” but said AdventHealth would be in charge of daily operations for Lutheran Hospital in Wheat Ridge, Platte Valley Hospital in Brighton and Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette
A version of the news release posted on Intermountain’s website said it is also exploring options for Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, including “potential partnerships.” It didn’t mention any plans for St. Mary’s Regional Hospital in Grand Junction, which is Intermountain’s only other hospital in Colorado
Intermountain is based in Salt Lake City and all of its other 29 hospitals are in Utah
Florida-based AdventHealth has five hospitals in metro Denver, including AdventHealth Avista in Louisville, AdventHealth Castle Rock, AdventHealth Littleton, AdventHealth Parker and AdventHealth Porter in Denver, along with dozens of medical practices and offsite emergency and urgent care centers
The joint news release also noted that the “transaction” would close in early 2027, assuming regulators approve. States and the U.S. Department of Justice can intervene in sales and mergers if they believe a deal would reduce competition in a health care market
Representatives for Intermountain declined to clarify what role, if any, the system would have in the joint venture. AdventHealth said the agreement isn’t a sale, but declined to give details about how the venture would work
Two of the hospitals involved in the venture — Lutheran and Platte Valley — appeared on a list of financially vulnerable hospitals compiled by the union National Nurses United earlier this summer. Lutheran relocated to a new $680 million facility less than two years ago, however, which makes it difficult to tell whether the hospital truly has a pattern of losing money based on publicly available data
Kaiser Permanente Colorado will end its partnership with Intermountain this year, though it relocated its employed doctors to work in other hospitals in 2025
Kaiser runs an insurance plan and medical facilities for about 500,000 members statewide, and said it was expanding partnerships with CommonSpirit Health and HCA HealthOne to offer more choices at lower costs
UCHealth announced a similarly vague joint venture with Estes Park Health last year. Visitors looking up the facility online now see it listed as UCHealth Estes Valley Medical Center, with no obvious signs of a status that differs from other hospitals the system owns
This is a developing story and may be updated
