Milwaukee-based Froedtert and Neenah, Wis.-based ThedaCare have finalized their merger agreement and will launch as a combined 18-hospital system Jan. 1.
The two Wisconsin systems announced their merger plans in April. Froedtert President and CEO Cathy Jacobson will initially serve as CEO of the combined organization, and ThedaCare President and CEO Imran Andrabi, MD, will serve as president. After a six-month transition, Ms. Jacobson will retire from the organization and Dr. Andrabi will assume the role of president and CEO of the combined health system.
Dr. Andrabi told Becker's that the organizations' vision, missions and values are so similar that "the more we talked about how we can work together from a partnership perspective, the more it became evident there is more here that we can do together because of how similar we approach the healthcare landscape."
He added that Froedtert and ThedaCare have the rare opportunity to have community health, rural health, urban health and academic health packaged in one system.
"I think that's a tremendous opportunity, and we're looking forward to being able to put that to work for the people of Wisconsin," Dr. Andrabi said.
The brand names of each organization will continue, according to a Dec. 19 news release from the health systems. Planning will continue throughout 2024 and beyond to "solidify how the combined organization will operate."
The combined organization expects to name its board in January. The initial chair and vice chair roles of the board and committee will be equally shared between the parties. The initial board chair will be Jud Snyder, Froedtert Health’s current board chair, and the initial vice chair will be Jim Kotek, ThedaCare’s current board chair.
Here are the other leaders who will make up the combined executive leadership team:
- Amir Ghaferi, MD: President of the physician enterprise, south region
- Ian Schwartz, MD: Chief clinical officer
- Susan Campbell, BSN, RN: Chief ambulatory operations and service lines officer
- Eric Conley: President of the south region
- Thomas Arquilla: Chief growth officer
- David Olson: Chief business development officer
- Steve Basilotto: Chief experience officer
- Scott Hawig: Chief financial and administrative officer
- Mark Thompson: Chief transformational investments and value integration officer
- Caryn Esten: Chief transformation and integration officer
- Maggie Lund: Chief culture and integration officer
- Eric Humphrey: Chief human resources officer
- Paul Van Den Heuvel: Chief legal officer
The COO position for the combined organization is currently open.