CommonSpirit Health 2025 Year in Review

Baylor St. Luke’s in Texas performs first fully robotic heart transplant in the country

Surgeons at Baylor St. Luke’s in Texas performed the first full robotic heart transplant in the United States on 45-year-old Tony Ibarra, who was suffering from advanced heart failure. Now, Ibarra is back to hiking. Watch → 

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New NICU gives twins born at 30 weeks the care they needed

Ivy Lessig and her sister Indie were the first babies cared for at the advanced Level II NICU at CHI Health Good Samaritan in Kerney, Nebraska. The NICU is the first in central Nebraska that provides specialized care for babies born at 30 weeks’ gestation and older. Previously, infants born at fewer than 32 weeks’ gestation were flown to Lincoln or Omaha for specialized care. Read more → 

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Nurse residency program leads to 91% retention rate for new nurses

Two years after implementation, CommonSpirit’s system-wide nurse residency program has resulted in an aggregate retention rate of 91% for new nurses who start the program. Nurses say the year-long program gives them more confidence in the transition from nursing school to bedside care. Read more → 

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Arizona woman miraculously recovers after falling off cliff while snowboarding

20-year-old Izzy Siniscalchi was on her second snowboarding run of the day when she fell from a 70-foot cliff. The care she received at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix helped her regain her ability to walk, eat, speak and run. Read more → 

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Expanding access to care with new sites nationwide

Here are just a few examples of how CommonSpirit expanded access to care this year:

CommonSpirit Memorial Hospital North Georgia will open January 2026. The 135,000 square-foot facility will offer 64 inpatient beds (including an ICU), a 24-bed emergency department and five operating rooms.

An advanced ambulatory care center in Folsom Ranch, California will bring outpatient surgery, advanced imaging, urgent care and multispecialty services under one roof by summer 2027.

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health opened two first-of-its-kind combined ER/urgent care centers in Washington State and a new patient tower at St. Michael Medical Center with 74 hospital beds to relieve its busy emergency department and improve access to specialty care.

Read more about the Folsom Ranch Ambulatory Care Center → 

Read more about CommonSpirit’s North Georgia expansion →

Read more about VMFH’s combined ER/urgent care clinics →

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A CHI St. Joseph’s Health program provided scholarships to 26 aspiring health care professionals in Minnesota.

The program encourages students to return to their communities and address the critical need for skilled medical providers. Read more →

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Virginia Mason Franciscan Health celebrates 20 years of hyperbaric medicine

For two decades, the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine at Virginia Mason Medical Center (VMMC) has filled a critical medical care gap, bringing life-saving treatments to patients across Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Montana and Idaho.

What started as a research center for deep-sea diving, the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine at VMMC is now the only 24/7, 365-day accredited hyperbaric center in the Northwest region of the United States. Read more → 

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CommonSpirit Flight for Life expands to rural Western Kansas

Flight for Life made history 53 years ago as the country’s first helicopter medical transport service based at a civilian hospital. Now it’s breaking new ground by bringing its life-saving operations to a new base at CommonSpirit - St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City, Kansas. Read more → 

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Commitment to community benefit: $5B+ annually

CommonSpirit creates a more just, equitable and innovative healthcare delivery system through the contribution of more than $5 billion annually in charity care, community benefits, and unreimbursed government programs. 

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Thoughtful, strategic adoption of AI 

As an early adopter of AI since 2015, CommonSpirit has implemented more than 230 AI tools to fundamentally transform health care delivery, enhance patient outcomes and improve operational efficiency. Read more → 

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CommonSpirit continues to excel in quality and safety

A consistent, evidence-based approach to quality and safety at CommonSpirit led to unprecedented performance in patient safety and quality metrics across the health system. Read more →