Amita Health, one of Illinois’ largest hospital systems, has officially divided into two parts. Hospital officials made it official Friday.

Amita had announced back in October that Amita’s set-up — AdventHealth and Ascension — would end their partnership. The plan was to divide Amita’s 19 hospitals into two separate systems. With 14 of the hospitals now operating under Ascension Illinois and the others part of AdventHealth.

Ascension Illinois includes St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee and St. Joseph Hospital in Joliet.

Amita said in a news release last fall it was splitting up after leaders of Ascension and AdventHealth “determined that going forward separately is in their collective best interest in order to meet the changing needs and expectations of consumers in the rapidly evolving health care environment.”

The split at Amita is a rare example of a system breaking into pieces at a time when many other hospital systems are trying to grow through mergers and acquisitions.

Ascension is a Catholic health system with 142 hospitals in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

AdventHealth, affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has nearly 50 hospitals and hundreds of care sites in nine states.

94.1 WGFA