St. Luke’s and Aspirus Health

The affiliation process was finalized on March 1, 2024. Aspirus Health and St. Luke’s are now a combined health care organization.

This has been a thorough, intensive, thoughtful process, and there have been no significant changes to what was already announced. The day-to-day experience for patients and employees will be mainly unchanged. The organizations together will focus on these specific areas to advance the quality of care in the region:

• Aspirus will invest at least $300 million over eight years to fund St. Luke’s strategic projects.
• Aspirus has committed to implementing Epic and other standard systems to promote integration and efficiency within 24 months.
• Aspirus will expand the Aspirus Health Plan into St. Luke’s service area within 24 months, subject to regulatory constraints and timelines, to offer high-quality, cost-efficient insurance plans focused on improving health through the effective delivery of health care services to its members.

While St. Luke’s has been successful as an independent system for 140-plus years, we are affiliating with Aspirus to maintain and expand services that are vital for the region and rural communities. We will expand our impact and advance our goal of improving the health and well-being of every patient we serve.

As part of Aspirus Health, we will be stronger. The decision to grow is the culmination of a thoughtful and deliberate process to provide solutions for health care challenges facing the industry. St. Luke’s will become a major care delivery hub in the Aspirus system while growing, improving and investing in care models throughout this expanded footprint.

Patients can continue seeing their same providers to receive the same top-quality, compassionate care they have come to know and expect. All locations and phone numbers remain the same. We will continue to accept the same insurance. All our services and locations can continue to be found at slhduluth.com.

St. Luke’s Foundation will not change. Funds will always be used as designated by donors.

The strength of Aspirus Health will allow St. Luke’s to be more sustainable in the long term, maintain competitive offerings for our communities and expand our impact faster than we can on our own. Bringing our organizations together allows us to grow while managing the cost of care and advancing high-quality care and patient experiences. Joining Aspirus will be a value-add for our patients, our staff and our broader network and will strengthen the care and services that people can count on for generations to come.

Aspirus will make significant capital investments in the coming years, including investing at least $300 million over eight years to fund St. Luke’s strategic projects. Aspirus has also committed to implementing Epic and other standard systems to promote integration and efficiency within 24 months. Aspirus Health Plan will be expanded into St. Luke’s service area within 24 months, subject to regulatory constraints and timelines, to promote coordinated, cost-efficient and effective delivery of health care services to its members. In addition, Aspirus will continue supporting medical education in our region, including the residency program that St. Luke’s has with the University of Minnesota Medical School in Duluth. The agreement will also help each organization better recruit talent, given the expanded services and opportunities that will exist as part of a combined organization.

The purpose of the affiliation is growth, and both systems are aligned in this goal. The combined organization plans to grow the workforce, with an emphasis on clinical roles.

Sharing medical expertise and knowledge between Aspirus and St. Luke’s providers will enable opportunities to collaborate, expand best practices and build stronger teams. The purchasing power of two health systems for pharmaceuticals, supplies, IT systems and more will lead to lower costs and allow us to better manage the cost of care for our patients. Through this agreement, we will be able to further support local medical education, which is a key driver in supporting the necessary number of physicians, nurses, and other health care workers.