The second-largest health care company in Wisconsin is in talks which could create the largest health system in the country. Missouri-based Ascension is negotiating a merge with Providence St. Joseph Health. If they combine, the resulting nonprofit system would have 191 hospitals in 27 states and annual revenues approaching 45-million dollars. Ascension is the parent company of Columbia St. Mary’s and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare. It has 23 hospitals and almost 20-thousand employees in this state, mostly in southeastern Wisconsin.
