Atrium Health announces merger with Charlotte-based organization

Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health announced Dec. 2 that they will combine to create Advocate Health. The plans to come together were first shared in May.

Advocate Aurora Health is based in Charlotte, North Carolina with a strong presence in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas.

“Powered by 150,000 teammates – including the best and brightest physicians, nurses, researchers and faculty – we are poised to push past traditional geographic and care delivery boundaries to create a healthier tomorrow for all,” Eugene A. Woods, CEO of Advocate Health, said in a release.

All of the organizations — Atrium Health, Advocate Aurora Health and the newly established Advocate Health — will continue to serve their communities under their respective brands, meaning Atrium Health offices in will remain in Macon.

The new board of directors includes equal numbers of members from Advocate Aurora and Atrium. Atrium’s current chair of the board of directors, Thomas C. Nelson, will serve as the new organization’s chair until the end of 2023.

“The organization aims to bring medical innovations to patients more quickly, address the root causes of health inequities, advance population health, enable career advancement and achieve carbon neutrality by 2030,” the release from Advocate Health says.

After the combination, Advocate Health annually treats nearly six billion patients at over 1,000 sites of care and brings in over $27 billion in revenue. Advocate’s reach includes Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to bring our organizations together to do more, be better and go faster to help more people live well while training the next generation of health care professionals,” co-CEO Jim Skogsbergh said.

Advocate Health is now the fifth-largest nonprofit integrated health system in the nation.

This story was originally published December 10, 2022 at 9:00 AM.