LIVE OAK, Fla. — Shands Live Oak Regional Medical Center will soon provide only emergency services under new ownership.

In a press release issued Thursday, Community Health Systems Inc. announced that both Shands Live Oak and Shands Starke Regional Medical Center are being acquired by hospitals affiliated with HCA Healthcare’s North Florida Division and will be operated as off-campus emergency departments.

The intentions are for both medical centers to wind down and suspend all inpatient and non-emergency services in late April in advance of the sale being finalized.

Once services are suspended, the assets of Shands Live Oak and Shands Starke will be sold to HCA Healthcare affiliates. HCA Healthcare then plans to provide emergency services at the two locations as off-campus emergency departments of Lake City Medical Center and North Florida Regional Medical Center.

“The primary medical need of these communities is for emergency services,” Rhonda Sherrod, the CEO of the Shands hospitals said in the release. “Local access to emergency services will be sustained by HCA Healthcare’s North Florida Division operating the facilities as hospital-based emergency departments.”

The emergency departments are the most utilized at the two medical centers, averaging 22,000 visits a year.

“We are pleased to acquire these facilities and provide exceptional 24/7 emergency care to the residents of Live Oak, Starke and the surrounding communities,” said Lake City Medical Center CEO Rick Naegler in a statement. “North Florida Regional Medical Center and Lake City Medical Center have a long-standing relationship to caring, treating and supporting patients in these communities. We look forward to continuing to serve the residents in these communities.”

According to Naegler, North Florida Regional and Lake City Medical Center will do all they can to assist employees impacted at Starke and Live Oak by providing applicants with career resources and job opportunities for employment at nearby HCA Healthcare affiliated facilities.

Recruitment and Human Resources will be on site at Shands Live Oak on Monday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Shands Starke on Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.