[3] The hospital is part of a vertically integrated system[3] led by James Leonard, President and CEO since 2000.

[4] It is the primary teaching hospital for the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine, the medical school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The history of these entities began in 1918 when Margaret Burt Carle Morris left $40,000 to the City of Urbana, Illinois for the purpose of starting a hospital.

Housed in the abandoned Eastern Illinois Medical Sanitarium, the Clinic and 15-bed Hospital introduced the concept of multi-specialty group practice to the area.

[citation needed][needs update] In 2020, the Carle Health system bought BroMenn Medical Center in Normal, Illinois and Eureka Hospital in Eureka, Illinois from Advocate Aurora Health.