Sentara Healthcare announced that a deal to merge with Cone Health fell through.
A proposal to unite Sentara with the North Carolina-based Cone Health healthcare system was first broached in August 2020. Leadership teams from both systems began discussions to form an affiliation in early 2021, but have since decided the organizations can better serve their communities by remaining separate, Sentara and Cone Health both announced in a statement.
“Sentara Healthcare and Cone Health are high performing, well respected, community-focused organizations,” said Howard P. Kern, president and CEO for Sentara Healthcare. “Those similarities served as the basis for efforts toward an affiliation. I am confident that this mutual decision will not alter either organization’s ongoing commitment to meet the needs of our respective communities. Sentara and Cone Health remain aligned and in agreement that our first priority is to those we serve, and we believe this will be better done as independent organizations.”
The Sentara Healthcare Board of Directors and the Cone Health Board of Trustees came to the mutual agreement to end their plans to merge late last week.
“The Sentara Healthcare Board of Directors is very appreciative of the efforts undertaken by both organizations toward a shared goal of improving and advancing healthcare in Virginia and North Carolina,” said Dian Calderone, chair of the Sentara Healthcare Board of Directors.