Wellstar Health System and Augusta University Health System in Georgia are unified after months of negotiations.
The transaction, formalized in a signing ceremony on the downtown campus for AU Health, will see Wellstar step in as the sole corporate member of AU Health, The Augusta Chronicle reports.
Chancellor Sonny Perdue told the newspaper that the new $797 million deal with benefit not only the Augusta region but the entire state.
According to the legal documents outlining the deal, Wellstar has committed to:
- Construction of the Columbia County Hospital and moving the Surgery Center of Columbia County;
- Implementing the Epic Electronic Health Record System (which the state contributed $105 million to earlier this year);
- $31 million a year for the first two years of the agreement spent at the AU Medical Center Campus; and,
- $139 million spent on capital projects at the AU Medical Center in Augusta in years three through 10 of the agreement.
