Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health have completed their merger, and the new combination will be known as Advocate Health.
The two health organizations previously announced their plan to merge in May. The deal brings together Advocate Aurora Health, one of the 12 largest not-for-profit, integrated health systems in the U.S. and a major employer in the Midwest, with 75,000 team members, with Atrium Health, an integrated, nonprofit health system with more than 70,000 teammates, 40 hospitals and 500 care sites.
The new Advocate Health serves nearly six million patients annually and is the fifth-largest nonprofit integrated health system in the nation. The company has revenue of more than $27 billion, more than 1,000 sites of care and 67 hospitals, as well as more than 21,000 physicians and nearly 42,000 nurses.
The healthcare organization is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a strong presence in Chicago and Milwaukee. In addition, Advocate Health is planning for an institute for health equity in Milwaukee.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to bring our organizations together to do more, be better and go faster to help more people live well while training the next generation of healthcare professionals,” Jim Skogsbergh, who will serve alongside Eugene A. Woods as CEO of Advocate Health until his retirement in 18 months, said in a statement.
The Advocate Health Care, Atrium Health and Aurora Health Care brands will be used in their respective local communities, and Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the combined entity. Within the leadership of the new company, the board of directors is made up of equal members from Advocate Aurora and Atrium Health. Thomas Nelson will serve as chair of the board of directors until Dec. 31, 2023, when Michele Richardson, chair of Advocate Aurora’s board of directors, will assume the role for the next two-year term.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."