Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System received the final approval necessary to acquire Murphy (N.C.) Medical Center on Thursday, according to the Times Free Press.
Here are four things to know about the transaction.
1. The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Hospital Authority Board approved Erlanger's proposed acquisition Thursday evening.
2. Chattanooga-Hamilton County Hospital Authority Board Vice Chairman Mike Griffin said the board "felt great" about the decision to bring the 25-bed critical access hospital into the Erlanger system, the report states.
3. Murphy Medical Center CEO Mike Stevenson said the hospital began its partnership search roughly two years ago, with the goal of securing an affiliate to prevent the hospital from becoming one of the 25 rural hospitals that have closed in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama since 2010, according to the Times Free Press.
4. Erlanger maintained a relationship with Murphy prior to the proposed acquisition. During fiscal year 2014, Erlanger transferred 98 patients to the acute care hospital — a statistic Erlanger officials project to grow to 592 patients during fiscal year 2018, the report states.