By Brian Shane

Staff Writer

Board members of the Atlantic General Hospital Corporation have voted overwhelmingly to proceed with their planned merger with TidalHealth.

Out of 77 members present in person or by proxy for the March 27 meeting, there were 72 votes in favor of approving the merger transaction, and five votes in opposition, according to Don Owrey, chief executive officer of AGH.

Both parties are in the process of providing the necessary notices and disclosures to the various regulatory agencies ahead of the expected May 1 start of their agreement.

The TidalHealth corporate board still must also approve the transaction, a vote that was slated to occur at a April 3 board meeting, according to spokesman Roger Follebout.

Five weeks ago, TidalHealth provided formal written notice to the state of Maryland, which is required by law at least 30 days ahead of a merger date, according to Tracey DeShields, the Director for Policy Development and External Affairs at the Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC)

The Feb. 28 letter also sets May 1 as the date in which TidalHealth would become the sole member of the AGH corporation. Both parties had signed a letter of intent to merge Dec. 12.

“The parties have determined that it is in the best interests of their respective communities to affiliate and that the integration of AGHC into the TidalHealth system will increase the availability of opportunities for, and improves access to, quality healthcare services in the geographic area served by both parties,” wrote TidalHealth’s attorney Molly Ferraioli in the letter to the MHCC.

As a part of the merger, another big change may be coming in the near future to the Berlin hospital: its name.

In TidalHealth’s letter to the MHCC, it’s mentioned how the name of Atlantic General Hospital “will change within a year of the [merger] and they will notify the Commission when such change occurs.”

TidalHealth employes 5,500 people and operates in 35 locations across eight counties on Delmarva. The former Peninsula Health System and its flagship Peninsula Regional Medical Center (PRMC) in downtown Salisbury became TidalHealth in 2020 after absorbing Nanticoke Memorial Hospital in Seaford, Del., and McCready Memorial Hospital in Crisfield.

Ahead of the merger, AGH now employs 885 people, including a medical staff of over 270 providers at 20 locations in Worcester and Sussex counties, including doctors’ offices, outpatient facilities, and the original Berlin hospital, according to Owrey.

However, leadership from both TidalHealth and AGH have stressed that no job cuts are planned, and that all hospital system employees are needed in an area where many medical specialties are in short supply.

“We need more workers, not fewer,” Owrey said in a Feb. 24 interview. “I say it’s somewhat jokingly, but if the specialty ends in ‘-ology,’ there’s a need for those services.”