SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Sanford Health, headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Marshfield Clinic Health System of Marshfield, Wisconsin, have completed their merger and are now one nonprofit integrated health system operating as Sanford Health.

“We are thrilled to welcome 13,000 new employees from Marshfield Clinic Health System to our Sanford family and look forward to embracing all of the new possibilities that lie ahead,” said Bill Gassen, president and CEO of Sanford Health, in a prepared statement.

The combined system will serve patients and communities across the upper Midwest, including South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Iowa, Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan. The organization includes nearly 56,000 employees, 56 hospitals, 4,500 providers, two fully integrated health plans, specialty pharmacies and nationally recognized research institutions. Sanford Health Plan and Security Health Plan will serve more than 425,000 members.

An integration process is underway to create a unified organization. Patients will continue to receive care from the same trusted providers at the same locations, with no immediate changes. Moving forward together under the Sanford Health parent organization will bring more resources, expertise and innovation to patient care in communities across the rural Midwest, according to a joint release from the two entities.