will take over three Denver-area hospitals owned by , 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 in Wheat Ridge, in Brighton and in Lafayette.
A version of the news release said it is also exploring options for in Denver, including “potential partnerships.” It didn’t mention any plans for 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 in Louisville, , , Ի 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.
“Partnering with Intermountain Health represents an opportunity to build on our shared commitment to deliver high-quality, compassionate care,” David Banks, president and CEO of AdventHealth, said in a news release.
Rob Allen, president and CEO of Intermountain Health, said in a news release that AdventHealth shares a focus on helping people live their healthiest lives.
“We are excited about the prospect of a joint venture that would expand access to high-quality care and create a more connected experience for patients and care teams across the greater Denver area,” he said.
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.
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.
announced a last year. Visitors looking up the facility online now see it listed as , with no obvious signs of a status that differs from other hospitals the system owns.
Allan Baumgarten, a consultant who studies hospital markets, said he knew of at least two cases in Michigan in which a larger health system absorbed a smaller one, but called them a “joint venture” or a “substitution of control.”
To the public, however, they looked like straightforward sales, with the smaller brands disappearing, he said.
Baumgarten said he wasn’t sure why health systems might use that terminology, but it could be to avoid legal challenges. Hospitals expanding their market share, such as in the Denver area, traditionally had to make large donations to nonprofit foundations, he said.
“Maybe this approach avoids that,” he said in an email. “Or maybe you get lighter antitrust scrutiny, even though this joint venture would have significant market power.”
This is a developing story and may be updated.
