Alexian Brothers Health System, part of Ascension, and Adventist Midwest Health, part of Adventist Health System, said on April 13 the name of their integrated health system in suburban Chicago will be AMITA Health.
AMITA Health includes nine hospitals and a provider network of more than 3,000 physicians serving the west and northwest suburbs of Chicago. Alexian Brothers Health System, a Catholic nonprofit, and Adventist Midwest Health, a faith-based nonprofit, formed the joint operating company on Feb. 1, which created the third largest health system in Illinois. The joint operating company allows the separate organizations to preserve their separate religious identities, their mission priorities and to integrate operations while maintaining separate ownership of assets, the systems said in a statement. The parties said the integration will allow for better coordinated, more comprehensive patient care and created a large physician provider network.
In a statement, the systems said the new name is inspired by the meaning of amita in several languages, "friendship in Italian, honesty and truth in Hebrew and spiritual light and boundlessness in Hindi, reflecting the organization's core values of friendship, truth and mutual respect for all, as well as its faith-based call to healing."
The nine AMITA hospitals in the integrated Illinois system are Alexian Brothers Medical Center and Alexian Brothers Rehabilitation Hospital, both in Elk Grove Village; St. Alexius Medical Center, Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital and Alexian Brothers Women & Children's Hospital, all in Hoffman Estates; Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital in Bolingbrook; Adventist GlenOaks Hospital in Glendale Heights; Adventist Hinsdale Hospital in Hinsdale; and Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital in La Grange.
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