Essentia Health


Essentia Health is an integrated healthcare system with facilities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. As of 2014 it has over 12,000 employees, including 1,500 physicians and credentialed practitioners. The network includes 17 hospitals, 66 clinics, eight long-term care facilities, two assisted living facilities, four independent living facilities, and one research institute. Essentia was accredited as an Accountable Care Organization by the National Committee for Quality Assurance in 2013.

History

Essentia Health was formed in 2004, as the parent company of the partnership between the Benedictine Health System and St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System. Essentia Health acquired Dakota Clinic/Innovis Health in January 2008. In 2010, Essentia Health integrated the resources of all of its member organizations – SMDC Health System, Innovis Health, Brainerd Lakes Health, Essentia Community Hospitals and Clinics, and Essentia Institute of Rural Health – and united them under the one name, Essentia Health.
Essentia Health has more than two dozen Catholic-sponsored clinics, hospitals, and other facilities. The roots of Essentia's Catholic facilities trace back to a group of Benedictine nuns who established St. Mary's Hospital, Essentia Health's oldest hospital, in Duluth in 1888.