![Photo by Donna Abbott-Vlahos – Albany Business Review](https://news.sphp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ellis.jpg)
The Albany Business Review published an article covering a press conference featuring James K. Reed, M.D., president and CEO of St. Peter’s Health Partners, and Paul Milton, president and CEO of Ellis Medicine. At the virtual event, the two organizations announced they signed a letter of intent to examine the formation of a joint affiliation.
From the article:
SPHP CEO Jim Reed said Ellis would be a part of SPHP, and there would be Ellis representatives on the single board.
The examination process will last the next several months. A final agreement would require approvals by both organizations’ boards, as well as state and federal regulatory agencies, a process that could take another six months or more, said Paul Milton, president and CEO of Ellis Medicine.
The Ellis board had explored the possibility of merging with another organization a couple of years ago but decided to remain an independent system at that time. Milton said part of the reason was that it was the wrong time.
Ellis Medicine began exploring a partnership since then and decided SPHP was the perfect fit, he said. That was proven in part by how well they and other health systems have been collaborating during the pandemic, he said.
“This decision was not made because of Covid,” Milton said. “This already had its own life going on. But we learned to validate it through Covid because of the way we’re working together.”
Click here to read the full article.