Report: Virtua, Kennedy Mulling "Collaboration Opportunities"

Two of Camden County’s biggest hospital systems could be talking about joining forces, according to a report by NJBiz.com this week.

Virtua Health, which runs a 370-bed hospital in Voorhees and a 95-bed hospital in Berlin, as well as other hospitals in Marlton and Mount Holly, and Kennedy Health System, which operates the 219-bed Kennedy University Hospital on Chapel Avenue in Cherry Hill, as well as other hospitals in Washington Township and Stratford, issued identical, brief statements regarding discussions of unspecified “collaboration opportunities,” according to the NJBiz.com report.

The announcement comes roughly a year after two other major South Jersey hospitals formally announced a merger plan.

Underwood-Memorial Hospital in Woodbury and Cumberland County-based South Jersey Healthcare spent most of 2012 getting the necessary state and federal approvals before finalizing the merger in November.

There was no immediate indication Virtua and Kennedy were pursuing a similar plan, however.