Michigan-based Spectrum Health system plans to acquire the three-hospital Lakeland Health system in southwestern Michigan.
Officials said they intend to pursue a definitive agreement and due diligence over the next few months, with an agreement expected to be finalized by Oct. 1.
Lakeland Health has about 4,000 employees and 450 providers. Spectrum is a nonprofit health system based in west Michigan with 12 hospitals, 180 ambulatory and service sites, and 3,600 physicians. It also owns Priority Health, a health plan with 996,000 members in fiscal 2017.
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Lakeland Health would become a division of Spectrum Health but retain oversight by a local board of directors with local investment and philanthropic considerations.
“Our board has spent the past year diligently focused on our growth and partnership strategy in the context of current and anticipated future trends in the industry, such as consumer-centric care and precision medicine," said Richard C. Breon, Spectrum Health President & CEO in a statement.