Elmhurst Hospital will operate under the Rush name if a planned merger between Rush University System for Health and Endeavor Health closes as expected in early 2027.
The deal, announced Wednesday, Oct. 14, would combine 12 hospitals and more than 400 care sites across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana. The merged system would employ more than 46,000 workers and clinicians and serve more than 2 million patients a year, according to a joint press release from the two systems.
As we reported Oct. 14, Elmhurst Hospital is one of nine Endeavor Health hospitals that would join Rush's existing three-hospital system. Endeavor Health, Illinois' third-largest health system, formed in 2022 after the merger of NorthShore University Health System and Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare.
Endeavor Health will fund an incremental $1 billion investment as part of the deal. The press release said a significant portion would go toward community partnerships addressing social determinants of health and building infrastructure to support underserved populations. The announcement did not break down how the money would be allocated among the system's hospitals or communities.
Gerald "J.P." Gallagher, Endeavor Health's president and CEO, said in the Oct. 14 announcement that patients and communities would benefit from expanded access to research and high-quality care. Gallagher will lead the unified system once the deal closes.
Dr. Omar Lateef, Rush's current president and CEO, will stay on through the close and then serve as CEO emeritus and strategic adviser. A 20-person board with equal representation from both systems will govern the combined organization, chaired by a Rush board member.
The merger comes as nurses at Endeavor Health's Edward Hospital in Naperville push to unionize. Registered nurses there filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Oct. 8 to hold a union election, according to Shaw Local News Network. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), an affiliate of National Nurses United, announced the filing alongside petitions at three other hospitals nationwide.
Amy Alaimo-Kruse, a registered nurse in the women and children's float pool at Edward Hospital, said in a CNA/NNOC press release that nurses "want to have a voice in patient care and be strong advocates for our patients and ourselves."
No election date has been set.
Endeavor Health has not publicly responded to the union petition. The merger announcement made no mention of labor organizing at any of its hospitals.
Elmhurst Hospital, meanwhile, is in the middle of its own expansion. The hospital opened a 16-bed patient observation unit in July, the first completed project in a broader campus buildout during its centennial year. Dr. Kim Darey, the hospital's president, said in July that the hospital is focused on evolving to serve the community for another century. Future phases include a two-story addition above the Nancy Knowles Cancer Center and a new medical office building.
The merger still requires regulatory review and approval before closing in early 2027.
