After the approval, Houston Healthcare and Emory Healthcare are on a collision course. The merger could possibly come as early as Sunday.
WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Georgia’s Attorney General’s Office approved the merger of Houston Healthcare and Emory Healthcare.
The merger comes after Houston Healthcare and Emory Healthcare signed a “Letter of Intent” to merge the two systems and, in February, the two agencies reached a final agreement overseeing the merger, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
The Attorney General’s Office says that with the approval from their office, Houston Healthcare could be integrated into Emory Healthcare by Sunday, June 1.
In a statement, Emory Healthcare CEO Joon Lee said, “We are excited we have reached this important milestone to bring our two organizations together. The unification of our two health systems will allow us to strengthen and grow our services for patients in Central Georgia, while providing continuous high-quality health care to the communities who need us most.”
The merger comes after a consultant’s report, incorporated in the merger application, cast doubt on the feasibility of Houston Healthcare’s operations.
The report found that, should the hospital systems not merge, Houston Healthcare could shutter within a year or two. The healthcare agency had $170 million in cash-on-hand a decade ago; in 2024, their cash reserves had dwindled to $80 million.
As the merger completes, Houston Healthcare CEO Charles Briscoe is set to resign from his position when Emory Healthcare takes over operations. In a statement, Briscoe says he’s excited for the future of the hospitals as Emory takes over.
“This new affiliation with Emory Healthcare will help us reinforce our commitment of providing exceptional care and patient-focused services in Warner Robins, Perry and the surrounding areas,” Briscoe said in the statement. “For more than 60 years, we have supported our community with their health care needs and we look forward to what the future holds.”
Houston Healthcare has two hospitals with 282 beds, according to Emory Healthcare. The hospital system has been in operation since 1960. They say that the hospital has 2,500 employees and 200 physicians, serving 300,000 patients.
They’ll be joining Emory Healthcare, which employs 26,400 employees and 10 hospitals. They’re an academic health system and they employ 3,950 physicians in over 70 specialties, the health care system says.
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