William Anderson, president and CEO of South Florida Baptist Hospital at the time, expressed the possibility of a merger, and unnamed sources at BayCare "said the options range from forming a holding company with the hospitals retaining individual assets and partial autonomy to a full merger among some or all of the facilities.

[10] In July 1997, acting on The Hunter Group's report, BayCare Health System was formed as a 50-year pact and joint operating agreement.

The corporate parties to the JOA included Allegany Health System, owner of St. Anthony's and St. Joseph's, Morton Plant Mease, Bayfront, and South Florida Baptist Hospital.

[11] In March 1998, Morton Plant Mease Health Care Inc. began to manage North Bay Hospital in New Port Richey, before acquiring it entirely from Tenet Healthcare in a June 1999 transaction.

[12] On October 23, 2000, over a controversy with the City of St. Petersburg regarding abortions, BayCare members voted 3–1 to remove Bayfront from the alliance, with South Florida Baptist Hospital, Morton Plant Health Care, and Catholic Health East voting to remove Bayfront.

Shortly thereafter in July, BayCare head Frank Murphy announced that roughly 10 abortions per year that were allowed at Bayfront in the past were now considered disallowed due to Catholic restrictions.

[18] In April 2005, Morton Plant and Mease announced plans to finalize the merger they originally attempted in 1994, which the United States Department of Justice had initially blocked before limiting it in scope, and then reinvestigated in 1998.