AdventHealth

AdventHealth is the operating brand of Adventist Health System Sunbelt Healthcare Corporation, a nonprofit American hospital network headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Its institutional history is associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church and with the church’s long-running emphasis on hospitals, preventive care, education, and service to communities. The organization was created in 1973 as Southern Adventist Health and Hospital Systems to unite nine hospitals that had previously operated independently within the Southern Union Conference. It later became known as Adventist Health System and adopted AdventHealth as its principal public-facing identity in 2019. The system provides a broad range of care through hospitals, emergency departments, outpatient centers, physician practices, specialty programs, children’s and women’s services, urgent-care locations, behavioral and community-health programs, research activities, and other clinical facilities. Its hospital portfolio has expanded beyond Florida into several other states, although the size of the network varies according to whether joint-venture facilities and specialized hospitals are counted. The brand’s principal service areas include inpatient medicine, surgery, emergency and trauma care, cancer treatment, cardiovascular care, neurosciences, orthopedics, maternity and neonatal services, pediatrics, rehabilitation, imaging, laboratory services, and ambulatory care. AdventHealth’s brand positioning is built around whole-person care. The organization presents health as involving physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions, while also emphasizing prevention, wellness, compassion, and coordinated treatment. This positioning distinguishes the system from a purely acute-care hospital operator, although hospital care remains its core business. AdventHealth also operates as a major employer, educator, research participant, and community-health institution. It has collaborated with universities, technology companies, sports organizations, cultural institutions, and public agencies. A major turning point came in August 2018, when the organization announced that it would replace the Florida Hospital name and other regional identities with AdventHealth. Most facilities adopted the new identity on January 2, 2019. The change was intended to create a unified national brand as the system expanded outside Florida; facilities operated through certain joint ventures in Colorado, Illinois, and Texas initially retained their existing identities. Later joint-venture changes led several of those facilities to adopt AdventHealth branding. AdventHealth has also pursued operational technology and system integration. In 2019 it opened a centralized command center in Orlando to coordinate patient movement and transport across central Florida. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the system treated patients, expanded testing and vaccination operations, managed changing capacity levels, and established antibody-treatment services. More recently, it has invested in artificial-intelligence governance, health-care data collaboration, air medical transport, supply-chain management, and digital hospital-room technology. The organization remains privately held and nonprofit rather than publicly traded. Its scale, affiliations, and service mix make it one of the largest Protestant nonprofit health-care organizations in the United States. It is not a consumer-goods brand; its brand expression is applied across a federated network of hospitals, clinics, specialists, programs, and community services whose individual facilities may have distinct local histories.

AdventHealth traces its organizational history to the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s development of hospitals and health services in the United States. On February 15, 1973, Southern Adventist Health and Hospital Systems was established at Florida Hospital Orlando to unify nine hospitals associated with the Southern Union Conference. The facilities had developed separately over earlier decades, so the new system provided a common administrative structure while preserving local hospital operations. The organization later adopted the corporate name Adventist Health System Sunbelt Healthcare Corporation and became widely known as Adventist Health System, or AHS. The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists had secured the Adventist Health System trade name in 1979. Under successive leaders, the system expanded its hospital and outpatient presence and developed a broader network of clinical, administrative, educational, and community-health activities. Mardian J. Blair led the organization from 1984 until 2000 and was succeeded by Thomas L. Werner. During the 1990s and 2000s, the system both expanded and divested selected facilities. It participated in the creation of Centura Health with Catholic Health Initiatives in 1996, while also selling or ending relationships involving individual hospitals and medical properties. Donald L. Jernigan became chief executive in 2005. During his tenure, headquarters moved from Winter Park to a new administrative campus in Altamonte Springs, with office buildings opening in stages between 2011 and 2013 and later construction completed in 2018. The system joined the federal Partnership for Patients program in 2012 and continued to develop quality, safety, and technology capabilities. Terry Shaw became president and chief executive officer in December 2016. In August 2018, AHS announced a major rebranding program. Florida Hospital and several other regional names were replaced by AdventHealth on January 2, 2019. The change addressed the increasingly national scope of the organization and reduced reliance on a Florida-specific name. Joint-venture facilities in Colorado, Illinois, and Texas initially remained outside the full rebrand. In August 2019, AdventHealth opened a large patient-coordination command center in Orlando, developed with GE Healthcare. The facility brought together nurses, emergency medical personnel, dispatchers, transport specialists, and other staff to monitor patient placement and movement across central Florida. During the COVID-19 pandemic, AdventHealth treated its first known COVID-19 patient in March 2020, received federal relief funding, expanded testing and treatment operations, administered vaccines, and repeatedly adjusted hospital operating levels as demand changed. It also opened a monoclonal-antibody clinic and established a long-COVID clinic in Orlando. The pandemic exposed operational pressures including capacity constraints, testing delays, visitor restrictions, and temporary suspension of elective procedures. The organization continued to reshape its portfolio after the pandemic. It sold Central Texas Medical Center to Christus Health in 2020, dissolved the AMITA Health venture in 2022, exited the nursing-home market in 2023, and dissolved Centura Health with CommonSpirit Health in 2023. Several former joint-venture facilities subsequently adopted AdventHealth names. In 2022, the Leapfrog Group gave AdventHealth its first Emerald Award, recognizing system-wide quality and safety performance. AdventHealth has increasingly emphasized digital health and responsible technology. It created an artificial-intelligence advisory board in 2023 and became a founding member of the Coalition for Health AI and the Trustworthy and Responsible AI Network in 2024. It also launched AirStar 1 in 2024 to improve transfers from smaller hospitals. In 2025, David Banks became president and chief executive officer, replacing Terry Shaw. The organization’s present identity combines a large nonprofit hospital network with outpatient, specialty, research, education, community, and technology activities.

1. 2025David Banks becomes president and CEO

   Banks succeeded Terry Shaw as the organization’s chief executive.

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2. 2024AirStar 1 launches

   AdventHealth introduced an air-transport service for interfacility patient transfers.

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3. 2022AdventHealth receives the Leapfrog Emerald Award

   It became the first hospital network to receive the award for quality and safety achievements.

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4. 2019Most facilities adopt AdventHealth branding

   Florida Hospital and several other facilities changed names on January 2, creating a unified public brand.

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5. 2018AdventHealth rebrand is announced

   The organization announced that its principal operating names would be unified under AdventHealth.

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6. 2016Terry Shaw becomes chief executive

   Terry Shaw took over as president and chief executive officer.

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7. 2011Altamonte Springs administrative campus opens its first phase

   The first office building of the new headquarters campus opened and received LEED Silver certification.

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8. 1996Centura Health joint venture is formed

   Adventist Health System and Catholic Health Initiatives created the Centura Health venture.

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9. 1979Adventist Health System name is adopted

   The organization adopted the Adventist Health System identity following registration of the trade name by the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s General Conference.

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10. 1973Southern Adventist Health and Hospital Systems is founded

    Nine hospitals were brought together under a new system associated with the Southern Union Conference.

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A nonprofit, faith-affiliated integrated health-care system emphasizing whole-person care, prevention, clinical quality, safety, and patient-centered service.

• Hospital carehospital services

  The core offering consists of inpatient diagnosis and treatment, surgery, intensive care, maternity services, rehabilitation, and other hospital-based care delivered through AdventHealth facilities. Individual hospitals vary in capability, from community hospitals to tertiary and specialty centers.

• Emergency and urgent careemergency services

  AdventHealth operates emergency departments and urgent-care services for acute illness and injury. These services are connected to the wider hospital network so patients can be evaluated, admitted, transferred, or referred to specialty care when required.

• Outpatient and specialty careambulatory health care

  The system provides physician visits, diagnostics, imaging, laboratory services, surgery without overnight admission, and specialty treatment through outpatient centers, medical practices, and hospital departments. Major specialties include cancer, cardiovascular medicine, neurosciences, orthopedics, women’s health, and pediatrics.

• Women’s and children’s healthspecialty medicine

  Women’s and children’s services include maternity, neonatal care, pediatrics, pediatric specialty treatment, and related outpatient programs. AdventHealth for Women and AdventHealth for Children are branded service lines within the broader system.

• AirStar 1medical transport2024

  AirStar 1 is AdventHealth’s helicopter transport service, introduced to move patients from smaller or lower-acuity facilities to hospitals with more advanced capabilities, particularly in western Florida.

• 2020COVID-19 vaccination and treatment response

  United States

  AdventHealth expanded testing, vaccination, monoclonal-antibody treatment, staffing, and hospital-capacity programs during the pandemic. Its Florida facilities also shared supplies and coordinated with other health systems.

  Outcome. The campaign supported frontline-worker vaccination and changing pandemic-care requirements.

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• 2019Hurricane Dorian relief and hospital-rebuilding support

  The Bahamas

  AdventHealth sent clinicians and construction-related personnel to help assess and rebuild Rand Memorial Hospital in Freeport after Hurricane Dorian.

  Outcome. Disaster-relief and reconstruction assistance was provided in partnership with local stakeholders.

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• 2018AdventHealth brand unification

  United States

  The organization announced a coordinated identity change replacing Florida Hospital and several other regional names with AdventHealth. The campaign presented the new name as a way to support a broader geographic footprint and a consistent whole-person-care proposition.

  Outcome. Most participating facilities adopted the brand on January 2, 2019; some joint-venture facilities initially remained outside the rebrand.

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• 2024Launch AirStar 1 medical transportProduct launch

  AdventHealth sought more direct control over transfers from smaller hospitals to advanced-care facilities in western Florida.

  What changed. The organization launched its own helicopter transport service.

  Aftermath. AirStar 1 added an internal air-transport option to the system’s emergency and tertiary-care network.

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• 2023Dissolve Centura Health joint ventureM&A

  The Colorado joint venture with CommonSpirit Health was ended after years of shared operation.

  What changed. Centura Health was dissolved and several Colorado hospitals adopted AdventHealth names.

  Aftermath. The former joint-venture portfolio was divided between the participating organizations.

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• 2022Dissolve AMITA Health joint ventureM&A

  AdventHealth and its partner ended their Illinois joint venture after operating it as a major regional system.

  What changed. AMITA Health was dissolved and several former Adventist facilities were rebranded AdventHealth.

  Aftermath. The Illinois facilities returned to an AdventHealth-led identity and operating structure.

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• 2019Open a centralized patient command centerOther

  Central Florida required coordinated visibility into patient placement, transfers, transport, and emergency capacity across multiple facilities.

  What changed. AdventHealth opened a 12,000-square-foot Orlando command center developed with GE Healthcare.

  Aftermath. The center consolidated operational specialists and supported network-wide patient-flow management.

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• 2018Adopt AdventHealth as the unified brandStrategy

  The Florida Hospital name had become geographically limiting as the organization expanded across state lines and operated through multiple regional identities.

  What changed. Adventist Health System announced a system-wide rebrand, with most facilities changing names in January 2019.

  Aftermath. The change created a common public identity while selected joint ventures initially retained separate names.

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• 2020COVID-19 testing delays and mishandlingControversy

  AdventHealth Central Florida ended its relationship with MicroGen DX after delayed delivery and mishandling of approximately 60,000 tests. The episode prompted an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration.

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• 2015Stark Law and False Claims Act settlementControversy

  Adventist Health System settled multiple lawsuits alleging violations of physician-referral rules under the Stark Law and the False Claims Act. The reported $118.7 million resolution was described as the largest hospital-network Stark Law settlement at that time.

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• 2025David Banks becomes chief executive officer

  David Banks succeeded Terry Shaw as president and chief executive officer after Shaw’s retirement.

  Leadership change
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• 2024AdventHealth launches AirStar 1

  The system introduced a helicopter service to transport patients from smaller hospitals to higher-acuity facilities.

  Product launch
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• 2023AdventHealth and CommonSpirit dissolve Centura Health

  The Colorado-based joint venture was dissolved and several former facilities moved to AdventHealth branding.

  M&A
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• 2022AdventHealth dissolves AMITA Health joint venture

  AdventHealth and its joint-venture partner ended AMITA Health, with several Illinois facilities subsequently adopting AdventHealth identities.

  M&A
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• 2020AdventHealth ends COVID-19 testing relationship with MicroGen DX

  The system ended the relationship after delayed and mishandled tests led to regulatory scrutiny.

  RegulationOther
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• 2019Florida Hospital facilities become AdventHealth

  Most facilities adopted the AdventHealth name, creating a unified identity across the system.

  Campaign
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• 2019AdventHealth opens centralized patient command center

  A new Orlando command center was established to coordinate patient movement, transport, and emergency capacity across central Florida.

  Other
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• 2018AdventHealth announces system-wide rebrand

  Adventist Health System announced that Florida Hospital and other operating identities would transition to the AdventHealth brand.

  Campaign
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