UPDATE: Sept. 11, 2023: Froedtert Health and ThedaCare on Sept. 6 announced the systems’ respective boards approved a definitive merger agreement. The approval is a step forward for the combination, which the systems said they expect to launch at the beginning of 2024 pending regulatory approval.
Wisconsin-based nonprofits Froedtert Health and ThedaCare have signed a letter of intent to merge, with the goal of launching a combined health system by the end of this year.
ThedaCare’s medical network includes eight hospitals and a medical network that serve residents in 17 counties in northeast and central Wisconsin. Froedtert provides healthcare services in southeast Wisconsin through ten hospitals and 45 health centers and clinics.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Froedtert’s network is in partnership with the Medical College of Wisconsin. The combined organization will continue working with the MCW to provide graduate medical education, clinical trials, specialty care and other services, according to the release Tuesday.
“The Medical College of Wisconsin will continue to be an important partner in our work together,” Froedtert President and CEO Cathy Jacobson said in a statement on the combination.
Froedtert and ThedaCare have worked together before, including through a joint venture formed in October to create two health campuses in Fond de Lac and Oshkosh.
A month earlier, Neenah, Wisconsin-based ThedaCare announced a partnership with Froedtert and the MCW health network to provide specialty services, like heart and lung transplants and virtual critical care.
After the organization’s launch, Jacobson will assume the role of CEO of the combined health system, with ThedaCare President and CEO Imran Andrabi serving as the organization’s president.
After six months, Jacobson will retire and Andrabi will assume the CEO role.
The combined organization’s board will include representatives from both Froedtert and ThedaCare, including the president and CEOs of both organizations.
