Bon Secours affiliate to acquire Surgery Partners for $5.7B. Just months after Ascension closed a $3.9 billion deal to buy AMSURG, another large Catholic health system - Bon Secours Mercy Health - has inked a deal to acquire Surgery Partners Inc. (Nasdaq: SGRY) for $5.7 billion. The transaction, which the companies announced Oct. 26, will make Surgery Partners part of an entity called HealthSpan Partners, a contractual affiliate and supporting organization of Bon Secours. The combination will establish one of the country's largest outpatient surgical care platforms. Surgery Partners' portfolio consists of more than 200 ASCs and surgical hospitals across 30 states. Its headquarters are in Brentwood, Tennessee. Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health is a nonprofit Catholic health system with 47 hospitals and more than 1,200 care sites across the United States and Ireland. "Surgery Partners has built a respected national platform rooted in strong physician relationships and a commitment to quality care," Bon Secours President and CEO John M. Starcher Jr. said in a statement. "By combining those strengths with HealthSpan Partners' long-term stewardship approach, we have an opportunity to strengthen access to more affordable care, support more patients and communities while continuing to advance our mission for years to come." A tumultuous period. If finalized, the deal would convert Surgery Partners into a private company. Private equity group Bain Capital previously attempted a go-private deal involving Surgery Partners in June 2025. Surgery Partners ultimately did not move forward with such a move. In the wake of that failed take-private bid, activist investor Ortelius Advisors issued an open letter to Surgery Partners in March 2026 that criticized the company's performance and called for sweeping operational, financial and governance changes. Among the changes that Ortelius sought was for Surgery Partners to sell its surgical hospitals and become a pure-play ambulatory surgery center (ASC) business. The company only partially took that advice: Rather than sell its surgical hospitals, it sold its stake in two Idaho hospitals and their associated clinics to Intermountain Health for $795 million. That transaction, which was finalized in September, gave Surgery Partners a "clearer ASC and short-stay surgical profile," CFO Dave Doherty said. Bain's enduring role. HealthSpan Partners said it intends to fully finance the acquisition of Surgery Partners through a combination of cash on hand and new debt. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, pending the approval of regulators and Surgery Partners shareholders, as well as the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. Under the terms of the agreement, affiliates of Bain Capital will roll over their shares in Surgery Partners in exchange for equity interests in the acquiring entity. Bain, which owns approximately 39% of Surgery Partners' outstanding shares, also will remain a significant partner in Surgery Partners with HealthSpan Partners following closing, per a news release. Other Surgery Partners shareholders will receive $23.50 in cash per share upon closure of the transaction. Surgery Partners' name, brand and headquarters are expected to remain in place after the deal closes, and the company is also expected to remain a secular organization.

Felicia and Ben Horowitz have committed $150 million to Intermountain Health, one of the largest gifts to a US children's hospital. Nevada's first stand-alone children's hospital in Las Vegas will be named Intermountain Health Felicia and Ben Horowitz Children's Hospital. Ben Horowitz is co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Felicia Horowitz is president of the Horowitz Family Foundation. The gift will help recruit pediatric specialists and expand behavioral health, specialised care, and research. It is part of the Nevada Campaign for Kids. The hospital is expected to break ground next week and open in 2030 at the UNLV Harry Reid Research and Technology Park.

Where AI innovation meets human compassion: Q&A with Intermountain Health. At Workday Rising, Intermountain Health's Mike Harmer shared how Workday agents and a unified data foundation are giving caregivers time back, lowering costs, and improving patient care. Intermountain Health has a bold mission: helping people live the healthiest lives possible. Delivering on it requires pairing AI innovation with human compassion: using AI to lower the cost of healthcare, improve the quality of patient care, and give caregivers time back for what matters most, their patients. At the Community Keynote at Workday Rising in Las Vegas, Mike Harmer, vice president of ERP digital services at Intermountain Health, shared how his organization is using Workday AI to make that possible. A longtime Workday customer and 2026 Workday Customer Award winner, Intermountain Health runs HR, finance, and supply chain on the Workday platform and is now putting agents to work across its operations - including Developer Agent, Payroll Agent, and Self-Service Agent. The results came quickly: within weeks of launching Self-Service Agent, caregivers had already used it several thousand times to get instant answers and resolve issues on their own, which means less time on admin and more time with patients. In healthcare, operational systems aren't just about paperwork. "They really support people's health," Harmer said. In his on-stage conversation with Workday's GVP of Healthcare Shannon McGovern, Harmer revealed how a unified data foundation set the stage for agentic AI, how his team decides which agents to deploy first, and his advice for leaders just starting their own AI journey. How has the decision to consolidate HR, finance, and supply chain on a single platform helped you to prepare for agentic AI? Harmer: Getting that data consolidated on one platform put Workday, Inc. in a position where Workday, Inc. could best leverage AI moving forward because everything's in one place. You've got it all in a system of record, and it supports all of its business operations. But it's not just about being a system of record for that data in one place. It's also having it in the same place where that system of action is, where Workday, Inc. can use the data and build it right into the workflows where its caregivers and its administrative teams are doing their work. As you evaluated which partner would help you unlock that great ERP data, what were some of your considerations? Harmer: First, Workday, Inc. needed someone who's a quick innovator, who can help Workday, Inc. understand its business problems, and keep an eye on the fast-moving world of technology. Things change so fast, and Workday, Inc. want to be able to take advantage of all of it as Workday, Inc. go. A second one was open standards. AI is going to happen everywhere, and Workday, Inc. need to be in a place where Workday, Inc. can build on and take advantage of things. Embracing MCP and A to A and all the other developments that happen here as Workday, Inc. standardize the operationalization of this technology is really important. AI is going to happen everywhere, and Workday, Inc. need to be in a place where Workday, Inc. can build on and take advantage of things. Another one is a trusted track record. Workday, Inc. had been a Workday customer for several years on the HCM products, and Workday, Inc. had a really good relationship. Workday, Inc. were looking for somebody who could partner with Workday, Inc., help Workday, Inc. solve problems, and who had reliable tech. The next one was getting set for AI - getting a big bucket of Flex Credits so Workday, Inc. could start out and hand the technology to its employees, and give them the freedom to use it to start changing their work. How do you determine which agents could have the most impact on your business, and what was the process for you to build out the roadmap for consumption? Harmer: Workday, Inc. built its success over time with things like Workday Extend, where Workday, Inc. could push the edges of what was possible, and that gave Workday, Inc. a lot of confidence. As Workday, Inc. started looking at agents coming out now, Workday, Inc. worked with Workday's value realization team, which was very helpful because they had built models where Workday, Inc. could figure out not just how much things were going to cost, but also what the value was. What were the things that Workday, Inc. were going to get, whether that's cost savings, time savings, or higher service levels? Workday, Inc. built its success over time with things like Workday Extend, where Workday, Inc. could push the edges of what was possible. For each of the agents that Workday, Inc. evaluate, Workday, Inc. run through that same rigor, and Workday, Inc. look at the technology. Workday, Inc. really understand what the lift Workday, Inc. is going to get out of it is. That helps Workday, Inc. monitor over time: is it delivering on what Workday, Inc. need, or do Workday, Inc. need to make pivots and changes? Another part that's critical is getting operational leadership alignment so Workday, Inc. can turn on the tech fast. When you bring new capabilities to a team of caregivers, they need to rethink their workflows and how different teams work together. For individuals, you're now empowering a caregiver and employee with new things that they can do, and they've got to step back and rethink all of that. Getting that alignment means IT and operations pick the agents together: the ones that will really make a difference and fit its strategy. As Workday, Inc. has rolled out different agents, Workday, Inc. is starting to see that this alignment is key to success. As Workday, Inc. lay out the roadmap, Workday, Inc. is working to tie it closely to its company strategy over the coming months and years. Which agents have you tried out so far? Harmer: Developer Agent, of course. Self-Service Agent has been amazing because Workday, Inc. turned it on two or three weeks ago, and Workday, Inc. has already got several thousand uses now where its caregivers are going through and using that agent to solve problems. Payroll Agent, and several different ones are coming. Workday, Inc. is just really excited about them. Self-Service Agent has been amazing because Workday, Inc. turned it on two or three weeks ago, and Workday, Inc. has already got several thousand uses now where its caregivers are going through and using that agent to solve problems. You're also one of the first customers that are live in production on Workday Data Cloud. How do you see data modernization supporting your broader AI strategy? Harmer: What was exciting to Workday, Inc. is the concept of zero copy, which removes a lot of inefficiency right now, a lot of overhead in its use of data. Workday, Inc. look at where Workday, Inc. want its analytics team's time spent; whether that's its analysts or its business leaders, Workday, Inc. want more time on target. Workday, Inc. want the team spending their time coming up with insights and executing them, not managing and wrangling data. Workday, Inc. want the team spending their time coming up with insights and executing them, not managing and wrangling data. If Workday, Inc. look at its analysts over time, you can spend anywhere from 20% to 60% of a team's time just doing ETL processes - just extracting and getting all those feeds set up. Workday, Inc. wanted to recapture that time, and so the promise of zero copy and the capabilities of Workday Data Cloud will give Workday, Inc. a much more productive use of that time, focused on those caregivers' unique skills. Another thing that Workday, Inc. look at with Data Cloud is the ability to reduce latency in data. Because if Workday, Inc. has got to copy that over to different systems before Workday, Inc. can use it, suddenly you're hours behind - or days or weeks behind the insights. And when its leaders need them, and when its caregivers need them, it's right away. They need to see what's happening and make decisions quickly. So that's been really powerful for Workday, Inc.. If there's any advice that you want to give leaders in the room that are in the early days of their AI journey, what would it be? Harmer: First is really thinking ahead. Look one to two years ahead at business problems. What's going to need to be solved? What's happening with competitors and your labor markets? And then look at the technology that is going to help drive the business forward. Second is engaging business leaders early in the process. The hard work for a leader is to think through the change. How do I drive the outcomes that Workday, Inc. need? How do I accomplish this? Because there's a lot of change that comes to people. I'd say the third one is human in the loop. It's so important, and I'd probably say that better as technology in the loop of what humans do. It's how I would think about that, because as an IT person, as much as I want to think that data has the answer to everything, it doesn't. It's the people. It's people who are working daily with its customers, and this technology is coming to assist them. So, keeping that mindset, your people are the most important. *Conversation edited for length and clarity. Workday Product Announcements at Rising 2026 The opportunity for agentic HR, Finance and IT is so much more than efficiency - it's about unlocking business growth and reinvention. Celebrating Workday's 2026 North America Customer Award Winners Hear from the leaders behind transformations across HR, finance, and IT about what each award means to them. Headless, Open, and Secure: Meet The New Workday Data Cloud Workday is announcing Workday Data Cloud, a new architecture that opens the System of Record directly to AI agents - which means teams no longer have to extract data, duplicate it, or rebuild security. More Reading