HUNTSVILLE-Lincoln Health System (LHS), a county-owned, non-profit corporation, entered into a strategic affiliation agreement effective Sept. 10, 2018, with Huntsville Hospital Health System (HHHS) to become part of a larger affiliated health care system that will allow for more efficient delivery of services to residents of southern Tennessee and northern Alabama. The new entity will be governed by the same local hospital Board of Trustees and senior leadership team in Lincoln County.
Through this affiliation with Huntsville Hospital Health System, LHS will benefit from shared services, purchasing cooperatives for cost savings, physician services like specialist rotation and recruitment support, as well as assistance with other services. The goal of the affiliation is to enable LHS to grow its services and capabilities in the region it serves.
“Due to the increasing challenges facing healthcare, and even more specifically small rural hospitals and health systems, LHS has been looking to find a strategic partner for several years. We were in need of support and strength to face the hurdles ahead, and we are excited to have found this in a fellow non-profit health system so close to our own,” said Lincoln Health System CEO, Candie Starr.
Candie Starr
“Lincoln Health System’s decision to affiliate with Huntsville Hospital Health System is a monumental occasion for our system and our community,” said Anthony Taylor, Chairman, LHS Board of Trustees. “The future of hospitals and healthcare is rapidly trending toward affiliations to achieve performance efficiencies and quality levels required for financial success. This partnership will allow us to provide more cost-effective quality care to the citizens of our community, improve patient outcomes, provide an opportunity to improve financial stability and assist the preservation LHS’s long-term viability as an independent county-owned community health system,” said Taylor.
David Spillers
The strategic affiliation is neither a purchase nor an acquisition. It allows LHS to leverage access to many services and expertise that would be difficult to source alone. LHS remains locally owned and the current leadership team remains responsible for day-to-day operations and management including retaining all revenue generated by LHS.
“We’ve had a longtime relationship with the community and the hospital. Our missions and values are similar; both organizations exist to serve their patients. Working together, we can do that better. We are very pleased to have Lincoln Health System join us,” said David Spillers, CEO of Huntsville Hospital Health System.
“We welcome Lincoln Health System as an affiliate of Huntsville Hospital Health System, and we look forward to working more closely with the LHS team in helping serve the patients of Lincoln County and southern Tennessee,” said Philip W. Bentley Jr., Chairman of the Health Care Authority of the City of Huntsville.
About Lincoln Health System
Lincoln Health System (LHS) is a county-owned, non-profit health system located in Fayetteville, Tennessee. The health system’s humble beginnings began back in 1916 when the area’s all-female Alpha Kappa Club made it their mission to lobby for a much-needed hospital in Lincoln County. In less than 12 months, the vision became a reality and Lincoln County Hospital opened its doors on April 25, 1917. One hundred years later, Lincoln Health System is still serving the community. LHS consists of a 59-bed acute care hospital, an ambulance service, a long-term care and skilled care facility, a home health and hospice agency, and a freestanding outpatient rehabilitation and wellness center. For more information about Lincoln Health System its facilities, medical services, and physicians, visit www.LincolnHealthSystem.com.
Media Release/Steve Doyle/Senior Marketing Coordinator/Huntsville Hospital Marketing & Public Relations
