McCready Health, a single-hospital system in Crisfield, Md., and Salisbury, Md.-based Peninsula Regional Health System have signed a definitive agreement to merge.
Under the proposed transaction, which requires regulatory approval, McCready Health will join PRHS. Throughout the regulatory approval process, McCready will continue to offer hospital services in Crisfield. After the transaction is finalized, the hospital will cease inpatient care and surgical procedures and transition to a freestanding medical facility.
"The financial reality is that McCready does not maintain a daily census of patients sufficient to support the services required to qualify as a hospital as defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — and we were approaching the moment when we would lose the hospital because we would not qualify to be one," McCready Health CEO Kathleen Harrison said in a press release. "McCready needed to merge with an established and supportive partner like the Peninsula Regional Health System and transition to an FMF."
Staff affected by the hospital's transition to a freestanding facility will be considered for employment with Peninsula Regional Health System, according to the press release.
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