ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta-area hospital system could take over the hospitals affiliated with Georgia’s only public medical school under a deal announced Tuesday.
Augusta University Health System said it signed a letter of intent to join the Marietta-based nonprofit Wellstar Health System.
Any deal is far from final though, and spokespersons on Tuesday said they could not answer key questions, including how much Wellstar might pay to take over the system’s hospitals.
It would be part of a series of hospital mergers in Georgia and nationwide, as standalone hospitals become large enough systems to afford massive investments in electronic record systems — and also have the market power to negotiate more lucrative payment agreements with insurers.
Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare took over a three-hospital system based in Augusta earlier this year, pledging to invest more than $1 billion in upgrades and expansions over the next 10 years. That nonprofit group was named University Hospital, although it wasn’t controlled by Augusta University.