Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and its doctors group, which last summer entered into exclusive talks to affiliate with Signature Healthcare of Brockton, have signed a memorandum of understanding with Signature, which owns 263-bed Brockton Hospital.

The memorandum was disclosed in an e-mail to Beth Israel Deaconess employees Thursday from Kevin Tabb, CEO of the Harvard-affiliated Boston hospital, and Stuart Rosenberg, president of its Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians group.

Tabb and Rosenberg said they hope to reach a definitive agreement soon with Signature and its 150-doctor Signature Medical Group.

“Signature Healthcare is a high quality community health care provider, the type of partner we embrace as vital to our growing network of hospitals and physicians,” they wrote. “Signing the [memorandum] is an important next step on our path of working with community health care providers to deliver the right care in the right place at the right time.”