SARASOTA — Sarasota Memorial Hospital is in the planning stages for a multimillion-dollar partnership with BayCare Health System in Tampa to eventually cut its costs while exploring options to more efficiently serve the community, according to SMH CEO Gwen MacKenzie.

“This is not a sale, this is not a lease, it’s not a consolidation,” MacKenzie said. “It’s a strategic alliance. So it’s very important for our local community to know that we have an elected board that will maintain the management and control of our community assets, our community hospital and community health system.”