Emory Healthcare officially welcomes Houston Healthcare to the family with celebrations, new sign unveilings

Emory Healthcare is pleased to welcome Houston Healthcare, a community-based health system headquartered in Warner Robins, to the family, advancing high-quality patient care and expanding services to central Georgia. Houston Healthcare officially joined the Emory Healthcare team on June 1, 2025, after receiving approval for the strategic integration from the Georgia Attorney General’s Office in May.

The integration between Emory and Houston brings together the best of both worlds—the discovery and innovation of a comprehensive academic health center with a high-quality, deeply-rooted community health system.

“Our mission at Emory Healthcare is to improve lives and provide hope, and we believe this integration is the next chapter to move our mission forward,” says Joon S. Lee, MD, CEO of Emory Healthcare. “This is the combining of a very dedicated core of caregivers within the central Georgia community and equally dedicated caregivers within an academic health system to bring quality care and additional resources closer to home in the region.”

In August 2024, the two organizations announced they signed a Letter of Intent to explore the possibilities of Houston Healthcare joining Emory Healthcare. In February 2025, the parties finalized the terms of a definitive agreement, which specified the details and provisions of Houston’s integration into the Emory system. Following the Georgia Attorney General’s approval of the integration, both organizations finalized all necessary regulatory paperwork and closed the transaction on June 1, 2025.

On June 2, integration celebrations took place at Houston Healthcare’s two hospitals. Houston and Emory employees, local dignitaries and community leaders counted down and cheered as new monument signs were unveiled, revealing the new names of the hospitals.

Houston Healthcare-Warner Robins has been renamed Emory Hospital Warner Robins, while Houston Healthcare-Perry has been renamed Emory Hospital Perry. More than 2,500 employees at both locations are now Emory Healthcare employees, as are 350 physicians, who have also joined the medical staff at both facilities. The two hospitals have a combined 282 beds, along with five outpatient facilities and five physician practices which are integrating, as well.

“While the names may be different on the signs and throughout the hospitals, patients can expect to find the same high-quality and compassionate care they have experienced at this health system for more than 60 years,” says Kevin Splaine, the newly named CEO of Emory Hospital Warner Robins and Emory Hospital Perry. “We are expanding on what was built here, bringing a vision and collective commitment to this community that is critical for the region’s continued growth.”

With this integration, those living in central Georgia and beyond can expect to find access to specialized and integrated care closer to home, along with advances in innovation and technology at both hospitals, as well as at outpatient locations. Splaine says one of the first advancements will be a $51 million investment in an updated and integrated electronic health record (EHR) system. By installing Epic, a leading EHR system, clinicians will be able to provide more coordinated care between all Emory facilities, while enhancing both the patient and employee experience.

“We now turn over the responsibility for caring for the sick, giving hope to the hopeless, wrapping our arms around those families who come to us in need—to our big brother and big sister, Emory Healthcare,” says Ivan Allen, EdD, chair, Houston Healthcare System, Inc. “I am so proud that we made it to this day.”

Houston’s legacy of providing exceptional service and care to the community will live on through its collaboration with Emory.

“As we unveil our new signage, it is a symbol of the chapter we are now taking together, while starting to reshape health care for this community,” says Splaine.

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