Health consumers six months from now could receive care from a hospital network that stretches from St. Augustine to Jacksonville to Brunswick.
Baptist Health, Flagler Hospital and Southeast Georgia Health System said Monday they will form a collaboration that allows them to share resources and knowledge across all three systems.
"This is not a merger or an acquisition," said Hugh Greene, CEO of Baptist Health. "It's not a strong system taking over a weaker system.
"Our goal is to protect local governance of these institutions, while doing things together that are meaningful and substantive."
All three boards have approved an exclusive non-binding letter of intent saying they will work together, Greene said. The next step will be to bring staff together to help define what that collaboration could mean.
Possibilities include sharing IT or other resources in order to take advantage of economies of scale, said Joe Gordy, CEO of Flagler Hospital.
"One of our challenges in the future is to manage big data (massive datasets)," he said. "We're currently looking to implement a big data system, but one of our bidders is not able to work with a system that has less than 500 doctors."
Collaboration could also allow the health systems to share knowledge, said Gary Colberg, CEO of Southeast Georgia Health System.
"I can learn a whole lot from these other two," he said. "When you're collaborating, you're not worried about being taken over or outsmarted.
"Our consumers want to be comfortable going to a care provider in Brunswick, being referred to Jacksonville, and then being returned to their local doctor in Brunswick."
With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other changes to health care, providers that collaborate will fare better, Colberg said.
Greene said the affiliation among the three institutions makes sense because the health providers share common values and missions.
"Our hospitals are all very committed to community-based care and not-for-profit health care," he said. "We're all strong financially and we're all committed to local governance."