Health Care Access and Heartland Community Health Center

Heartland Community Health Center and Health Care Access announced Thursday that the two organizations have reached an agreement to join forces.

The nonprofits hope to achieve a “more unified community health access point with robust resources and staffing to support comprehensive and integrated services,” according to a news release.

Heartland will acquire HCA’s staff and assets, including HCA’s 330 Maine St. clinic. The target date for the merger is February 2018, according to the release, and both organizations said they expect no disruptions to patient care.

Jon Stewart, CEO of Heartland, will stay in his position, and Beth Llewellyn, CEO of HCA, will help with the transition and stay on board as an adviser for a period of time after the merger, according to the release.

Heartland offers primary care, behavioral health care, psychiatry, dental care and physical therapy regardless of income or insurance status. It is a federally qualified health center, so it relies less on state and local funding.

HCA provides care to uninsured, low-income patients in Douglas County.