Sanford Health and the Hillsboro Medical Center have agreed to a letter of intent to be affiliated entities, Sanford announced Friday.
The agreement allows for Sanford and Hillsboro to share financial, legal and business information to base an affiliation decision on. They plan to reach a definitive agreement by Dec. 31, 2012.
HMC has been managed by MeritCare since 2000 and then by Sanford following its merger with MeritCare in 2009. Sanford also operates a clinic inside the HMC facility.
HMC is a 16-bed nonprofit critical access hospital with attached long-term and assisted-living facilities. It employs 148.
Sanford Health has headquarters in Fargo and Sioux Falls, S.D. With 34 hospitals, 116 clinic locations and more than 1,000 physicians, it is the largest nonprofit health care system in the United States.
