Centegra could join Northwestern health system
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare is seeking to have Centegra Health System join its system, so the two have signed a nonbinding letter of intent to explore an affiliation.
That means that the two organizations will discuss the partnership over the “next several months” to define what this would mean and how it would affect their resources and workforces. Once they reach an agreement, the deal will need to be approved by the state. said Northwestern spokesman Christopher King.
“Both organizations believe we need more talent not less,” said King.
Centegra includes Centegra Hospital Woodstock, Centegra Hospital McHenry, and Centegra Hospital Huntley, which opens in August. In addition, it includes Centegra Immediate Care Centers in McHenry, Huntley, Crystal Lake and soon in West Dundee. Centegra Physician Care Centers are in Algonquin, Fox Lake, McHenry, West Dundee, Crystal Lake, Huntley, Spring Grove and Woodstock. The Centegra Sage Cancer Center is in McHenry. Centegra Health Bridge Fitness Centers are in Crystal Lake and Huntley.
Centegra also has about 4,000 employees and more than 200 physicians and allied health professionals who are employed by Centegra Physician Care.
The affiliation means that Centegra would join Northwestern's system and could include the Northwestern name. No cash will exchange hands in the plan, said King.
“This is the right time to join an organization that values the ways we provide advanced medical care in our community,” Centegra CEO Michael S. Eesley said in a statement. “Northwestern Medicine would help us give patients the perfect combination of academic medicine and community-based care.”
Centegra and Northwestern share a similar medical vision, said Dean M. Harrison, president and CEO of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare.
“As a member of Northwestern Medicine, Centegra Health System would be part of an integrated academic health system that is transforming the future of health care and becoming one of the nation's premier destinations for patient care,” Dean M. Harrison, president and CEO of Northwestern Memorial HealthCare, said in a statement.
In early March, about 1,000 workers from Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital joined Northwestern when Northwestern's partnership plan was approved with the Wheaton-based health care system.