Huron Medical Center has announced plans to join the McLaren Health Care system.
Huron Medical serves Huron, Sanilac and Tuscola counties.
William Mayes, CEO of the center, said integrating with McLaren will help recruit primary physicians and expand services.
“They understand rural healthcare. And that was really critical to us. We think it's very important to have an understanding of what it is to be in an underserved area,” said Mayes.
Being an independent hospital, Mayes said, can be a challenge.
“Primary care physicians are the lifeblood of a hospital. When you're independent it's a little more difficult to recruit. They’re already offering recruiting services that will hopefully give us a leg up on additional primary care doctors for the thumb area,” Mayes said.
Huron Medical expects the integration process to take three months.