February 1, 2026, marked the beginning of a new journey that’s been decades in the making, as Longstreet Clinic officially joined Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) after 30 years of shared history.
“We are proud of everything that we have achieved together so far, from the front lines to the board room,” said Robert Richard, M.D., FACS, bariatric surgeon and president & chairman of Longstreet Clinic. “We have learned a lot together. As we officially go live and begin this deeper alignment with our longtime strategic partner, we look forward to providing a more seamless patient experience and continuing to enhance the quality of care we provide.”
While behind the scenes some processes are changing, many of the day-to-day realities could be considered “business as usual.” For example, Longstreet Clinic’s name and logo remain, our Longstreet Clinic team still greets patients as they enter our same office doors, and we continue to provide compassionate, quality care in all that we do. We look to the future with excitement, knowing we will have the ability to expand services and better positioned to meet the needs of our community.
“Any time you take a successful, multi-specialty group that’s as established as Longstreet Clinic and integrate it with a complex, multi-hospital health system like NGHS, process changes are inevitable,” said Chad Copper, M.D., FACS, a general surgeon who has been a member of the physician-led implementation team. “On behalf of the Longstreet Clinic leadership team, we want our staff to know how much we appreciate their time and attention to detail to minimize the impact on our patients during this transition.”
Longstreet Clinic has been a key healthcare provider since 1995, when eight single-specialty practices joined together to start the group. As we start our fourth decade together we can look back with pride at what we have achieved, and as we look ahead, recognize that we have not accomplished this this alone. Along the way, Longstreet and NGHS have worked closely together to care for the community through many partnerships:
- Oncology services: Including expansion into Braselton and Toccoa with co-located services with NGPG providers.
- Epic: Since 2019 we’ve been live on this shared platform with our regional partners.
- The clinically integrated HP2 network: Working alongside Northeast Georgia Physicians Group, Georgia Heart Institute to improve value-based performance contracts, improving outcomes while reducing costs for all.
- Service line development: Including Neonatology, Perinatology, Robotics, Women’s and Children’s, Bariatrics, Vascular and more.
“After three decades of working together, we’re excited to officially welcome Longstreet Clinic as formal part of our health system,” said Matt Hanley, M.D., president and CEO of NGHS. “It’s the natural next step for two organizations that have always aligned toward the NGHS mission of improving the health of our community in all we do. I have no doubt it’s the right move for our patients, our providers and the future of healthcare in this region.”
“We know the past year has been stressful for our team as we’ve worked through implementation, from construction projects to operational workflow changes and everything in-between. But there also is much to celebrate – our team has rallied together in a way that has made me proud and a testament to who we are as an organization. We have also appreciated the support of the NGHS implementation team who helped us work through these changes – a process that has truly deepened our interdependence on one another,” says Mimi Collins, CEO of Longstreet Clinic. “I am grateful to everyone involved and proud of where we are today. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for all you have done and will continue to do each day, in every interaction, for our patients and their families and the communities we serve together.”
