Advocate Health Care, a 12-hospital system based in Downers Grove, Ill., and Aurora Health Care, a 15-hospital system based in Milwaukee, plan to merge to create the 10th largest nonprofit health system in the U.S.
Here are five things to know about the proposed transaction.
1. The combined system, called Advocate Aurora Health, would include 27 hospitals, have annual revenues of approximately $11 billion and serve nearly 3 million patients each year.
2. "This merger is about transforming care delivery and reimagining the possibilities of health as bigger meets better and size meets value to benefit consumers," said Jim Skogsbergh, president and CEO of Advocate. "By joining forces we will be able to expand our network to scale innovation and create a destination in the Midwest for patients and the talented clinicians who care for them."
3. Both health systems' boards of directors have approved the merger plan, which calls for a single board of directors with an equal number of members from each system, and for Mr. Skogsbergh and Aurora President and CEO Nick Turkal, MD, to serve as co-CEOs. Under the agreement, each system will maintain its current headquarters.
4. The transaction, which is subject to federal and state regulatory review, is expected to close by mid-2018.
5. The deal comes on the heels of a failed merger between Advocate and Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore University HealthSystem. The two systems abandoned their plan to merge in March after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to temporarily halt the transaction.
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