The Memorial Health Board of Directors and the Chatham County Hospital Authority announced that two approvals have been received to enable HCA Healthcare to acquire Memorial Health. Monday, the Georgia Attorney General’s Office announced that the proposed acquisition has been approved. This comes on the heels of another essential approval by the Department of Community Health for the Certificate of Need request.  

As noted in previous announcements, closing and integration are anticipated this winter. “We’ve been very pleased at how quickly this process has progressed,” said Frank Rossiter Jr., M.D., chairman of the Chatham County Hospital Authority. “The Board, the Authority, HCA and the Memorial Health team are all deeply committed to its success. With continued focus, we are confident that we will hit our target for full integration in early 2018.”

“This has been a tremendous team effort,” said J. Curtis Lewis, III, chairman of the Memorial Health Board. “Together, the Memorial Board and the CCHA have found the right partner to ensure continued access to the highest quality healthcare for our region. We are already seeing investment of time and talent as HCA has brought leaders in to collaborate with our Memorial Health Team Members to ensure a smooth transition this winter.”

The Memorial Health Board and the CCHA joined forces in early 2017 on a strategic search for a partner to assume and stabilize the hospital’s operations. In late April, they announced that HCA Healthcare would be that partner. Following a due diligence period, a Letter of Intent was accepted by the Georgia Attorney General’s Office in October and a public hearing with unanimously positive public support was held November 17, 2017.

“I’m incredibly impressed by and proud of the work that the Memorial Health Team Members, the Board and the Chatham County Hospital Authority have accomplished in such a short amount of time,” said HCA South Atlantic President Hugh Tappan. “Integrations of this complexity often take nine months or more and the work that this team has accomplished this fall is extraordinary.”