Sparrow Health to get a new name

Move part of partnership bringing $800M investment

One year after the University of Michigan’s acquisition of Sparrow Health, the Lansingbased health system will get a new name. As of April 1, 2024, it will be known as the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow.

“University of Michigan Health-Sparrow reflects a partnership going forward, building on the equity of both brands,” James Dover, Sparrow president and CEO, said in a news release. “Sparrow has an unmatched reputation in Mid-Michigan while U-M Health is the preeminent health system in Michigan. The new name highlights a continued commitment to bringing patients the right care at the right time at the right place, closer to home.”

Combined, the University of Michigan Health is now one of the state’s largest health care systems, valued at $7.8 billion with 11 hospitals and 43,820 employees — 3,844 of whom are physicians. Its leaders say it is now the second-largest health system by revenue in the state.

Renovations ahead for Sparrow hospitals

The deal, completed in April, folded in Sparrow’s Physicians Health Plan, which provides insurance coverage to more than 70,000 members and 300 employers in Michigan, as well as a Medicare Advantage plan.

The Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan Health pledged to provide an $800 million investment over the next eight years in Sparrow’s six hospital campuses, funding facility projects, operations and other investments.

Among them are renovations to the neonatal intensive care unit at E.W. Sparrow Hospital in Lansing and upgrades to services in cardiology, oncology, orthopedics and neuroscience.

“Within the first 100 days, we’ll see expansion first in plastic surgery,” Dover said in a previous interview. “Our goal is we want to treat complex cancer patients here, like head and neck, breast cancer, etc., as well as complicated reconstructive surgeries.

“No. 2 is anesthesia. Believe it or not, we’re very short on anesthesiologists in our region. We’ve had trouble recruiting. We actually have a couple of ORs (operating rooms) that are shut down right now because of our lack of anesthesiology.”

Michigan hospital systems combining, changing

This is the latest in a series of recent acquisitions and mergers among Michigan hospitals.

The 2022 megamerger of Beaumont and Spectrum to form the new Corewell Health created Michigan’s largest health system with 22 hospitals and more than 60,000 employees.

Additionally, the former North Ottawa Community Health System, based in Grand Haven, was acquired in October by Trinity Health. It became Livonia-based Trinity’s ninth Michigan hospital.