Lincoln Health System (LHS), a county-owned, non-profit corporation, has entered into a strategic affiliation agreement 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 small rural hospitals, LHS has been looking for a strategic partner for several years. 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.

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 are very pleased to have Lincoln Health System join us," said David Spillers, CEO of Huntsville Hospital Health System. "We've had a longtime relationship with the community and the hospital. Our values are similar."

"We welcome Lincoln Health System and we look forward to working closely with the LHS team in helping serve the patients of Lincoln County and southern Tennessee," said Philip Bentley Jr., Chairman of the Health Care Authority of the City of Huntsville.