Augusta University Health System and Marietta-based Wellstar Health System have finalized terms for a partnership called Wellstar MCG Health to improve patient care in Georgia by bringing together community health systems and academic medical centers.
The agreement will create a stronger link between Wellstar, a nonprofit system founded in 1993, and the Medical College of Georgia and will expand Augusta University’s training across the state. As part of the deal, Wellstar will invest nearly $800 million over a decade in AUHS facilities and infrastructure.
More than $200 million will be set aside for the Augusta University Medical Center, which is a 600-bed safety net and teaching hospital. Funding will also be provided for a new hospital, a medical office building, an ambulatory surgery center in Columbia County and to help establish a new electronic medical records system throughout AUHS.
The partnership, which is awaiting regulatory approval and is expected to close in late summer, was approved this week by the boards of Wellstar and AUHS, as well as the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. MCG and AU are both part of the University System of Georgia, with MCG being the only public medical school in the state.
There will be a series of townhall meetings for faculty physicians and health system employee groups on the pending partnership, said Augusta University president and acting CEO of AUHS Brooks Keel.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said in the announcement that the partnership would create greater access to care and more training for physicians and other health care providers at AU and MCG.
“This is an important day for health care in Georgia,” Kemp said.
The partnership will focus on five areas: access to expertise in all corners of the state, expanding the number of physicians trained at MCG, care innovation, expanding pediatric care across the state and investing in digital health, such as expanding telehealth offerings.
University System of Georgia Regent and chairman of the AUHS board of directors Jim Hull said the partnership will boost MCG and AU’s reputation.
“As an Augusta resident, I’m excited to see the potential of MCG as it grows and matures into what I believe is one of the best public medical schools in the nation,” Hull said.
