It was August of 2020.

Sanford Health officials and their counterparts at Fairview Health Systems in Minneapolis had been talking about merging the two entities.

By that time, talks had been taking place for several weeks, starting shortly after the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sanford even had a code name for the merger talks: “Project Phoenix.”

But there was one stumbling block to the merger: There was also a “Project Heritage.” At the same time Sanford was exploring merger opportunities with Fairview, it was also looking at a merger with Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare.

NEWS: GOP chairman doubling as marijuana grower