HSHS operates a network of 15 hospitals and other healthcare facilities throughout the midwestern U.S. states of Illinois, and Wisconsin.

HSHS also operates St. John's College, the oldest Catholic hospital based nursing school in the United States.

[2] HSHS generated significant controversy in 2024 when it abruptly closed two major hospitals in Northwestern Wisconsin, disrupting care for thousands of patients in the region, including hundreds of pregnant women who were left with no place to give birth.

[3] CEO Damond Boatwright attracted attention for making misleading claims about the closures, suggesting that state and local government officials had been promptly notified about the closures when neither local officials nor the Wisconsin governor had received such notice.

[2] St. John's College is the oldest Catholic hospital based nursing school in the United States.