NORFOLK, Va. - Sentara Healthcare and Greensboro, North Carolina-based Cone Health plan to merge, according to a release by Cone Health.
According to the release, the merger will create "a combined organization with a unique value-based approach that is focused on keeping people healthy and well, while providing high-quality, accessible and affordable health care in more ways and in more places."
“As two of the top-performing health systems in the United States, Cone Health and Sentara Healthcare share similar missions, strategies and cultures,” said FD Hornaday, chair of the Cone Health Board of Trustees. “This planned merger positions our organizations to address more effectively the toughest challenges facing health care systems: increasing access and affordability.”
Sentara's area of operation does not overlap with Cone Health, allowing the merger to provide more choices for health care and insurance plans.
Howard Kern, Sentara's president, will lead the combined organization from the Norfolk headquarters. Greensboro will serve as the regional headquarters for the Cone Health division.
“This rapidly changing health care environment requires tremendous transformation and innovation to ensure the long-term success of each respective health system and, most importantly, the very best for our patients and health plan members,” Kern said. “We can either react to change, or we can shape it. We are choosing to shape change and will lead this transformation of health care together.”
Currently, nothing changes for patients, physicians, staff or health plan members at Cone Health and Sentara.
