It also operates a number of for-profit firms, including subsidiaries involved in private equity, venture capital, insurance, medical software, and pharmacy delivery.

A 2022 New York Times investigation alleged Ascension hospitals instigated a staffing crisis via system-wide layoffs, leading nurses and doctors to file complaints about possible preventable deaths.

[18] In December 2018, the Attorney General of the District of Columbia brought suit against Ascension in an attempt to prevent the closure of the Providence Health System hospital, which served a low-income population but was financially unviable.

[30] In April 2016, a class-action lawsuit was brought in federal court, alleging that Ascension subsidiary Wheaton Franciscan Services (in Glendale, Wisconsin), erred by treating its pension plan as though it was a "church plan," exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"), a federal law governing employee pensions.

Denman contended that she had been cheated out of the due process, as provided in the company substance-abuse policy, depriving her of a chance to establish her innocence, and retain her position.

[33][34] In 2018, Ascension hospitals abruptly stopped performing tubal ligations and vasectomies, as part of the nonprofit's Catholic belief that all artificial birth control is immoral.

[41] In early 2022, a pregnant woman named Yeniifer "Yeni" Alvarez-Estrada Glick came to the emergency room of Ascension Seton Edgar B. Davis, in Luling, Texas, reporting breathing problems, diabetes, hypertension, and a history of pulmonary edema.

'"[14] Ge Bai at Johns Hopkins University said that the cuts were likely made to maximize profitability; obstetrics and gynecology services are low-margin units, especially in locations where many patients are on Medicaid.

[14] In an essay about the closures and the death of Glick, author Jessica Valenti disparaged Ascension as "the Catholic hospital system killing women.

"[52] In April 2021, minority shareholders in the medical revenue cycle management company R1 RCM sued Ascension and TowerBrook, accusing them "of teaming up to extract $105 million years before they were supposed to.

"[53] In October 2023, it was reported that "Ascension Health Alliance and TowerBrook Capital Partners LP will shoulder most of a $45.4 million settlement ending shareholder litigation over their deal to unlock long-term investments in medical billing company R1 RCM Inc."[54] For several years, the highest paid CEO of any nonprofit in the United States were the CEOs of Ascension Health, Anthony Tersigni and later Joseph Impicciche, who were typically compensated with more than $10 million in earnings per year in the 2010s.

[55] Reporting of this led to condemnation, as Democratic Wisconsin State Senator Chris Larson called Ascension “a profit machine that punishes the sick and rewards the greedy.”[56] U.S.

Senator Tammy Baldwin also wrote an open letter to the hospital, stating "As a nonprofit, tax-exempt, health system, Ascension is required to provide charitable benefits to the community … I am concerned that the opposite is occurring – that by operating like a private equity fund, Ascension is squeezing staff, closing facilities, and extracting cash from its member hospitals for dubious 'management fees' all to advance its investment activities and provide compensation to its executives.

[59] Near the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, several Ascension-owned hospitals in Wisconsin informed uninsured patients they would not be charged for testing or treatment of COVID-19.

[60] Ascension drew considerable criticism for receiving over $211 million in government bailout relief payments despite having $15.5 billion in cash reserves—enough to operate for eight months.

The Times reported that, "As recently as 2019, Ascension was trumpeting its success at reducing its number of employees per occupied bed, a common industry staffing metric.

At one point, executives boasted to their peers about how they had slashed $500 million from the chain's labor costs ... During surges in the coronavirus, Ascension repeatedly reduced its capacity by more than 500 beds nationwide because it did not have enough workers."

[62] The hospital chain said that it began cutting costs in labor after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, turning an anticipated $5.2 billion loss to $2.7 in profits over a five-year span.

[63] Milwaukee Magazine described "chaos" at one Milwaukee hospital, with doctors and other medical staff saying that Ascension's employment decisions were creating unsafe environments for their patients, in part because surgeries were being repeatedly delayed because of limited staff, there not being enough workers on site to answer phones, and doctors fielding phone calls while simultaneously performing surgeries.

[64] In December 2022, unionized health care workers and residents in Milwaukee unsuccessfully protested[65] in opposition to the closure of an urban Ascension-run labor and delivery unit at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital.

"[57] In November 2024 after financial losses and in the wake of the company's systems being hacked, Ascension announced the closure of a "micro-hospital" in Waukesha only opened three years before.