Clarendon Health System's Board of Trustees moved Tuesday night toward the second step of an affiliation with McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence.
Board Chairman Jim Darby said after a two-hour executive session Tuesday that the board had explored such affiliations with both McLeod and Palmetto Health, and that the agreement is not set in stone as of yet.
"This is more like a second interview," he said. "This is just the board exploring all of its options to better help the future of the hospital. We are going to enter into a business relationship, but the nature and type of that relationship has not been established."
The hospital reported a more than $4 million loss in the last fiscal year, and recently went through a transition with the resignation of its former CEO Richard Stokes. Chief Financial Officer Paul Schumacher is now the interim CEO.
Darby said any agreement would not be considered a merger per se.
"This is a long-term process," he said. "Nothing is going to happen tomorrow, or next week or next month. We continue to explore all of our options."
