Virtua Health, an academic health system based in Marlton, said Dec. 18 that the not-for-profit institution and ChristianaCare, a Wilmington, Del.-based network of primary care and outpatient services, have agreed to terminate the letter of intent entered into in July 2025.
Virtua said in a statement that “after thoughtful evaluation, both organizations have determined that they can best fulfill their missions to serve their communities by continuing to operate independently. Each health system remains committed to providing high-quality, compassionate care and advancing the health and well-being of the patients and communities they serve.” The two institutions did not offer any further explanation regarding their decision to end the letter of intent.
Virtua Health and ChristianaCare signed a non-binding letter of intent in July to explore the co-founding of a regional not-for-profit health system. The combined system would have provided care across more than 10 contiguous counties in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland, with more than 600 sites of care, nearly 30,000 employees, and academic programs supporting more than 500 residents and fellows.
Both Virtua Health and ChristianaCare are known for their expertise and leadership in unique care models, including their innovative use of hospital-care-at-home and other new platforms of care delivery that are transforming the health care experience.
Virtua Health is a not-for-profit, academic health system with 15,000 colleagues, including 3,000 affiliated doctors and clinicians. Its network includes five hospitals (1,492 beds), two freestanding emergency departments, 42 ambulatory surgery centers, 38 primary care locations, 30 physical therapy and rehabilitation practices, and over 400 additional sites.
Virtua is academically affiliated with Rowan University. It also partners with Penn Medicine for cancer and neuroscience, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for pediatrics.
ChristianaCare operates a network of primary care and outpatient services, home health care, urgent care centers, three hospitals (1,430 beds), a freestanding emergency department, a Level I trauma center and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, a comprehensive stroke center and regional centers of excellence in heart and vascular care, cancer care and women’s health.
ChristianaCare is a nonprofit teaching health system, serving as the Delaware Branch Campus of the Sidney Kimmel Medical School of Thomas Jefferson University and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The Virtua-ChristianCare termination of the letter of intent is just the latest chapter in hospital combination misfires in New Jersey this year. In October, Saint Peter’s Healthcare System and Atlantic Health called off plans to merge, citing the impacts of what the two systems described as a “rapidly evolving healthcare landscape nationally.”
The health care systems first announced plans to combine in January 2024 and signed an agreement to merge the following June. Atlantic operates more than 550 sites of care, including seven hospitals in the state. Saint Peter’s operates the 478-bed Saint Peter’s University Hospital and is the only single-hospital health system in Middlesex County. The merger needed approval from both federal and state regulators as well as the Catholic Church.
Neither health care provider disclosed many details about the decision to end the merger. In a joint statement issued Oct. 6, Atlantic President and CEO Saad Ehtisham and Saint Peter’s President and CEO Leslie Hirsch called the deal’s end disappointing.
