CHI and Dignity have landed on a name: CommonSpirit Health

Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health have landed on a name for the health system their mega-merger will form: CommonSpirit Health.

The name is meant to highlight the not-for-profit health systems' united missions of service and positive resonance across diverse patient populations, they announced in a news release Thursday. The systems said they want it to evoke the new ministry's mission of advancing health for all, founded on the belief that all people deserve access to high quality healthcare.

"It was important that our name could provide a connection between all people: our employees, physicians, patients, families and neighbors alike," Dignity CEO Lloyd Dean said in the release. "CommonSpirit does just that."

CommonSpirit Health beat out more than 1,200 names in the running. Ultimately, Englewood, Colo.-based CHI and San Francisco-based Dignity picked a name they said would conjure notions of faith-based healthcare while also meeting legal considerations and squaring with consumer research.

Other factors that worked out in the new name's favor include the organization's mission of contributing to the "common good," a core tenet of Catholic social teaching, the release said. It's also viewed as an expression of gratitude for the women who founded the health ministries despite "significant obstacles" to meet pressing health needs.

"We appreciate how the manifestation of the Spirit is woven into so many messages—God's gift of compassion, the calling to heal others and serving the common good," CHI CEO Kevin Lofton said in the release. "Each comes together and is reflected in just one powerful word, CommonSpirit."

CHI and Dignity said the new name will help them develop a "visual identity" for the $28.4 billion not-for-profit health system, the nation's largest not-for-profit hospital company by revenue.

The merger overcame a key obstacle in recent months by getting the green light from the Vatican. It still needs approval from state attorneys general, including in California, which is subjecting the proposed deal to a particularly rigorous review process.