Erlanger Health explores $2 billion partnership with South Carolina hospital

From Local 3 News: Erlanger could join forces with Prisma Health in a $2 billion partnership investment.

“It'll be transformative for Erlanger. It will change the way healthcare is delivered in this city, like Chattanooga has never seen,” said Jim Coleman, president and CEO of Erlanger Health.

Erlanger officials say the decision comes after nearly a year-long search for the right partner.

The board wasn't simply looking for financial backing; it wanted an organization with a similar mission, one committed to serving every patient regardless of their ability to pay.

“We were looking more for a cultural fit. Who was like Erlanger, served a population like we serve, have the mission we have to care for the entire community, regardless of payer, and they fit the mold and checked all the boxes,” said Coleman.

If approved, the partnership would fund projects such as expanding urgent care centers, outpatient surgery facilities and imaging centers, while also making improvements at Erlanger East and Baroness Hospital.

Prisma Health CEO Mark O'Halla says bringing care closer to where people live is one of the biggest priorities.

“Expanding urgent care, ambulatory surgery centers, freestanding imaging centers to get out, actually away from hospital campuses, so that we can make access to services easier for the community to get to, and frankly less costly,” said O’Halla.

Patients won't see any immediate changes.

The Erlanger name will remain, current employees and medical staff will stay put, and critical services like the level one trauma center, children's hospital and transplant program would stay the same.

But for frontline staff, the biggest difference could be behind the scenes.

“Patients should not notice anything, but higher quality equipment, more supplies… This partnership has the ability to give us that equipment that will help us take better care of patients than we already do,” said Emma Willis, clinical nurse manager at Erlanger.

After the agreement is signed, Erlanger will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Prisma, meaning Prisma will act as Erlanger’s parent company, but Erlanger's name and operations will remain the same.

Until then, it's business as usual.

Both health systems will spend the next 120 days getting the agreement finalized.