Froedtert Health and ThedaCare are one step closer to combining after their boards approved a definitive merger agreement.
The two Wisconsin-based systems signed a letter of intent to merge in April in a deal that would create a roughly $5 billion health system operating 18 hospitals. The health systems are on track to launch the combined organization at the beginning of 2024, pending regulatory approval from state and federal agencies, according to a Wednesday news release.
Related: Froedtert Health, ThedaCare to merge after finding 'right partner'
The combined organization would include more than 3,900 providers and aims to recruit and retain more primary care and specialty care physicians in employed, affiliated and independent practices.
Leaders at Milwaukee-based Froedtert and Neenah, Wisconsin-based ThedaCare tout the deal as a way to provide patients with better access to comprehensive care while expanding their footprints. The combined organization will be based in Wisconsin and partner with the Medical College of Wisconsin to boost the pipeline of physicians, researchers and other health professionals in the state. The two organizations will maintain their existing brand names.
As announced in April, Froedtert President and CEO Cathy Jacobson would lead the combined system as CEO, and ThedaCare president and CEO Dr. Imran Andrabi would serve as president. After six months, Andrabi would become CEO following Jacobson’s retirement. Jacobson was not made available for an interview.
Froedtert Health reported $3.60 billion in revenue in the fiscal year that ended June 30, compared with $3.35 billion the prior year, according to its unaudited quarterly financial statement.
ThedaCare reported a revenue of $1.19 billion in its 2022 fiscal year that ended Dec. 31, compared with $1.16 billion in previous year, according to its unaudited annual financial filing.
Froedtert Health and ThedaCare’s progress toward consolidation is the latest success among Midwestern health systems looking for partners. In July, Wausau, Wisconsin-based Aspirus Health signed a letter of intent to combine with St. Luke’s Duluth in Minnesota.