Two health systems in Georgia have signed a letter of intent to merge. If the agreement closes, Augusta University Health System (AUHS) will join Wellstar Health System, expanding Augusta University‘s educational and research capabilities. Additionally, it would allow Wellstar Health System to create a broader affiliation with Augusta University’s Medical College of Georgia (MCG).
As the primary teaching affiliate of MCG, AUHS provides complex care at AU Medical Center, which houses southeast Georgia’s only Level 1 trauma center, Children’s Hospital of Georgia, which houses the region’s only Level IV NICU, the Georgia Cancer Center and Roosevelt Warm Springs Rehabilitation and Specialty Hospitals, a virtual care network, and more than 80 primary, specialty and subspecialty care clinics across the state.
MCG and Augusta University are part of the University System of Georgia (USG), and MCG serves as the only public medical school in the state.
The agreement includes funding for constructing a new hospital and medical office buildings in Columbia County and possibly a new teaching campus in Atlanta at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital.
There is no announced timeline or expected completion date for the negotiations.
