Providence, St. Joseph hospital chains announce massive merger

Two Catholic hospital chains are merging to create the nation’s third-largest nonprofit health system, with more than 100,000 employees in seven states.
Providence Health & Services of Irvine, California, is merging with St. Joseph Health of Renton, Washington, to create Providence St. Joseph Health.
The new entity has 50 hospitals in Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington state.
The merger was approved by California’s attorney general last month. T