Rush, Endeavor Health plan merger to form 12-hospital system

Rush University System for Health and Endeavor Health are planning to come together.

The two Chicago area health systems announced Wednesday that they are planning a merger. If regulators approve the deal, Rush and Endeavor will merge to form a system with 12 hospitals, more than 400 care locations, and nearly $11 billion in revenue.

Endeavor Health says it will invest $1 billion over the next several years to expand care and academic research.

Under the planned deal, the merged organization will be branded as Rush.

When the deal is finalized, J.P. Gallagher, president and CEO of Endeavor Health, will lead the combined system.

Dr. Omar Lateef, president and CEO of Rush, will remain in his post until the deal is closed. After the transaction is complete, he plans to move into a new role as CEO emeritus and strategic advisor to the CEO.

The merged organization will be overseen by a 20-member board with equal representation from the Rush and Endeavor systems, with Rush appointing the board’s chairperson.

The combined system will employ more than 46,000 people and serve more than two million patients annually in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs in northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana. Endeavor reported $6.4 billion in annual revenue in 2025, while Rush boasts $4.4 billion in annual revenue, according to Fierce Healthcare.

‘Collaboration and shared commitment’

In a post on LinkedIn, Gallagher said he looked forward to forming “an integrated academic health system deeply connected to the communities we serve across greater Chicagoland.”

“This partnership is the result of the trust, collaboration and shared commitment that Dr. Omar Lateef and I have with our respective boards to improve the health of all of our communities,” Gallagher said.

“We are creating a system that will support our patients, communities and team members and improve the future of healthcare across the region for decades to come,” he added.

In a statement accompanying the announcement, Lateef pointed to shared goals and philosophies about improving access to care and closing disparities.

"The system will embody and expand the foundational values for which both systems are known: excellence, access and health equity, backed by a leading university that drives research and trains our future healthcare leaders," Lateef said.

"As a unified system, we will expand upon the work Rush has done on the West Side of Chicago to strengthen our impact in communities across the region to ensure more patients benefit from the expertise, innovation and compassion that define us."

Shifts in Chicago

The planned merger represents the latest shift in Chicago’s hospital market in recent years.

In March 2025, Prime Healthcare, the for-profit system based in California, finalized a deal with Ascension to purchase eight hospitals in the Chicago area. Prime also acquired four senior living and post-acute facilities, two ambulatory surgery centers and a host of physician practices.

University of Chicago Medicine and AdventHealth established a joint venture nearly four years ago to operate four hospitals and scores of clinics in the Windy City suburbs. UChicago Medicine holds a controlling stake while AdventHealth manages daily operations of the facilities.

More mergers

The proposed Rush-Endeavor deal offers yet another sign that hospitals and health systems are more open to mergers and acquisitions. The pace of hospital merger activity has accelerated over the past year.

Through the first three quarters of the year, there have been 56 announced hospital mergers and acquisitions, according to data from Kaufman Hall released this week. In the third quarter alone, there were 16 announced hospital transactions.

The number of hospital deals this year has already surpassed the total for all of last year. There were 46 announced hospital mergers or acquisitions in all of 2025. The hospital deal total in 2025 was the lowest number in 15 years.

Joe Kight, head of healthcare for the U.S. Bank Institutional Client Group, told Chief Healthcare Executive in a July interview that he sees more interest in healthcare mergers.

“We're starting to see more M&A consolidation in the healthcare space,” Kight says. “And I think that is only going to accelerate.”