Health System with 14 hospitals across 3 states
| Health System | Essentia Health |
|---|---|
| Total Hospitals | 14 |
| Commercial/Acute Hospitals | 14 |
| Total Beds | 1155 |
| Commercial/Acute Beds | 1155 |
| Headquarters | Duluth, MN |
| Website | essentiahealth.org |
| Hospital | Type | Beds | Teaching | Recently Joined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center | Acute Care Hospital | 380 | Yes | No |
| Essentia Health - Duluth (Miller-Dwan Building) | Acute Care Hospital | 121 | Yes | No |
| Essentia Health-St. Joseph's Medical Center | Acute Care Hospital | 162 | No | No |
| Essentia Health-Virginia | Acute Care Hospital | 83 | No | No |
| Essentia Health St. Mary's-Detroit Lakes | Acute Care Hospital | 87 | No | No |
| Essentia Health-Sandstone | Critical Access Hospital | 25 | No | No |
| Essentia Health-Ada | Critical Access Hospital | 14 | No | No |
| Essentia Health - Holy Trinity Hospital | Critical Access Hospital | 15 | No | No |
| Essentia Health-Northern Pines | Critical Access Hospital | 16 | No | No |
| Essentia Health-Moose Lake | Critical Access Hospital | 25 | No | No |
| Essentia Health-Fosston | Critical Access Hospital | 50 | No | No |
| Essentia Health-Deer River | Critical Access Hospital | 20 | Yes | No |
| Essentia Health-Fargo | Acute Care Hospital | 142 | No | No |
| Essentia Health St. Mary's Hospital-Superior | Critical Access Hospital | 15 | No | No |
Ophthalmologist by training; Previously CEO of N.C.-based health system Vidant Health; Worked and held close ties to the Mayo Clinic, where he served on the health system's management team and the board of directors; Helps set healthcare and corporate priorities through his board roles at the Minnesota Hospital Association, where he serves as chair, and the Minnesota Business Partnership. [4, 7]
Jodi Mansfield is the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer at Essentia Health. She is an experienced healthcare executive with a background in healthcare administration and a focus on overseeing hospitals and integrated delivery systems. Her expertise includes developing initiatives to improve clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness, change management, cost reduction, team building, quality enhancement, operational excellence, system integration, and strategic implementation. Prior to Essentia Health, Mansfield held roles such as Chief Transformation Officer at Navigant and various executive positions at healthcare organizations including Palomar Health and Shands Healthcare, where she was also interim president and CEO. She earned an MBA in Healthcare Administration from the University of Florida and a BS in Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics from Florida State University. She also holds an LFACHE certification from ACHE.
Traci Morris serves as the Chief Financial Officer at Essentia Health. She has held this position since 2018. Prior to becoming CFO at Essentia Health, she worked for Benedictine Health System, before the two organizations merged in 2008. Morris is a senior finance executive with over 25 years of experience in integrated healthcare systems. In her role as CFO, she is responsible for overseeing the finances of Essentia Health, a system with nearly 16,000 employees, including approximately 2,350 physicians and advanced practitioners, operating 14 hospitals and 78 clinics across Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. She was recognized as a 2023 Chief Financial Officer of the Year honoree by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and was featured on Reuters' Trailblazing Women in Healthcare 2024 list. She played a key role in the Vision Northland project, a $900 million initiative that involved significant new construction and replaced the former St. Mary's Medical Center with a new hospital in Duluth. Morris holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Minnesota State-Moorhead and an MBA with a focus on healthcare management from Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. It has been announced that Traci Morris will retire from her role as CFO at Essentia Health on July 18, 2025.
Dr. Cathy Cantor is the Chief Population Health Officer at Essentia Health. She is also referred to as Essentia's chief medical officer for population health in some reports. Dr. Cantor has commented on Essentia Health's efforts to address social determinants of health and their partnership with organizations like Second Harvest Northland to help patients facing challenges like food insecurity. She has also spoken on behalf of Essentia Health regarding their decisions and subsequent agreement with UnitedHealthcare concerning Medicare Advantage plans, emphasizing the importance of advocating for patients and ensuring timely access to care. Additionally, Dr. Cantor has provided information on value-based care in rural areas, noting that the majority of Essentia Health's services are in such regions and that value-based care aims to improve quality and outcomes while decreasing costs. She holds an M.D. and an M.B.A.
As the top legal executive, Watters and his team have been involved in Essentia's efforts to expand through mergers and acquisitions. [4]
Andrew Askew is the Vice President of Public Policy at Essentia Health. Prior to joining Essentia Health in February 2020, he worked as a contract lobbyist for the organization while also working as an attorney in Bismarck, North Dakota. In his legal practice, he handled diverse litigation and established a government relations practice for his firm. Askew also served as a judicial law clerk for the North Dakota Supreme Court. He is responsible for Essentia Health's government relations and public policy strategy across North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and contributes to national health care policy discussions. Askew holds a law degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law, as well as bachelor's degrees in English from the University of North Dakota and in business management from St. Cloud State University.
Rhonda Kazik, DNP, RN, CENP, FAAN, is the System Chief Nurse Executive for Essentia Health. She has over 38 years of experience in nursing and healthcare, working in various settings including critical access, community, teaching and academic hospitals, ambulatory, and post-acute care. Her career includes leadership roles in Nursing, Quality, Operations, Health Systems Engineering, Nursing Informatics, and Research. Prior to her role at Essentia Health, which she took on in 2020, Kazik served as the system chief nursing officer at Community Health Systems in Fresno, CA, and held executive nurse leadership roles at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics. She also served as an assistant professor and nursing chair at Fresno Pacific University. Kazik holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Rush University in Chicago, a Master's degree in Administrative Medicine from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Bachelor's degree in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is also Certified in Executive Nursing Practice (CENP) and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN). She has authored publications and presented nationally on topics such as systems performance measurement and improvement, quality and patient safety, technology impacts, and clinical practice innovations. She has also taught as adjunct or affiliate faculty at Rush University, the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Walden University, and the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. At Essentia Health, she is responsible for the quality of nursing care and serves as the strategic leader for nursing strategy. She is also involved in initiatives to address the nursing shortage and promote health equity. She was selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing for her work on a Nursing Workforce Ecosystem Roadmap.
Matthew Piede is the Chief Development Officer at Essentia Health. He recently relocated to Duluth from Houston, Texas, to take on this role, serving the entire health system. As CDO, he utilizes his leadership and expertise to impact Essentia Health, an organization important to the region's community healthcare. Piede has held key leadership positions in three different healthcare systems that were undergoing transformational shifts, partly facilitated by philanthropy. His campaigns have ranged from $60 million to $1 billion. He holds an MBA from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester (NY) and has been a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) since 2016. His professional experience spans both the non-profit and for-profit sectors. Piede is passionate about his work because of its potential to change healthcare for the community. He credits his grandfather with inspiring him to do good for his part of the world, something he feels he does daily at Essentia.
Dr. Krista Skorupa is the President - East Market at Essentia Health. She is a family medicine physician with over 20 years of experience. Dr. Skorupa graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2004. Prior to her role at Essentia Health, she held leadership positions in primary care for 12 years, including serving as the vice president of medical practice for the M Health Fairview Primary Care Service Line. She also served as a division chair for regional practices at Essentia Health, overseeing rural clinics, regional hospitals, long-term care facilities, and post-acute services in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Dr. Skorupa continues to practice medicine clinically.
Wrote an opinion piece in The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, justifying Essentia Health's decision to cut labor and delivery services in Fosston. [4]
Statement: “This is a testament to our team's unwavering commitment to leveraging technology for the betterment of patients we are privileged to serve,” said Chuck Watson, Essentia's chief information officer. [10]