CHS, Cleveland Clinic Form 'Strategic Alliance'
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Community Health Systems, the Tennesee-based parent of the Youngstown-based ValleyCare Health System, and the Cleveland Clinic today announced they have formed a “strategic alliance to enhance the quality of patient care, improve access to health-care services, reduce costs and drive operational excellence.”
The hospital systems will remain independent entities, according to the announcement, which they describe as a “groundbreaking alliance.”
Community Health Systems operates Northside Medical Center in Youngstown, Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland.
CHS-affiliated hospitals will advance their clinical programs through access to Cleveland Clinic’s expertise in medical specialties, tertiary services and innovative approaches to patient care, according to the announcement. Cleveland Clinic will extend its reach and quality initiatives into new regions served by Community Health Systems’ network of 135-affiliated community hospitals nationwide.
Initially, the relationship will focus on three specific areas of collaboration, according to the announcement:
- Quality Alliance: The Cleveland Clinic will assist Community Health Systems in establishing clinical integration programs at its affiliated hospitals. The Quality Alliance model will create a framework in which physicians can share best practices and capture, report and compare data in a standardized format. Over time, recorded data will support predictive modeling for patient outcomes and reducing the cost of care. Clinical integration will provide a mechanism for the sharing of data to drive better value regardless of geography.
- Cardiovascular Services: Cleveland Clinic's Heart & Vascular Institute will assess selected CHS-affiliated hospitals for the opportunity to apply the institute’s expertise in cardiovascular services to enhance the quality and data infrastructure of programs with CHS-affiliated hospitals.
- Clinical and Operational Services: The organizations will explore a broad array of other engagements to share best practices and produce synergies. These may include telemedicine initiatives, second opinion services for physicians and patients, complex care coordination, and other practices in care and cost containment.
Physicians across both organizations will have the opportunity for broadened peer interaction to advance quality and create organizational connectedness, the announcement states.
“Even as both organizations remain independent, Community Health Systems and Cleveland Clinic are committed to a long-term relationship that will evolve over time to include additional collaborative opportunities and the possibility for future joint ventures,” they say. “Other areas of engagement may include clinical research, shared innovations and population health management.”
“As we face an unprecedented transformation in health care, we need to adapt and embrace change. This new relationship is reflective of Cleveland Clinic’s culture of collaboration and desire to exchange knowledge,” said Toby M. Cosgrove, M.D., CEO and president of Cleveland Clinic. “As health-care reform moves forward, we remain focused and committed to providing the highest quality, value and efficiency of care to patients locally and nationally. Our collaboration with Community Health Systems advances these efforts.”
Cleveland Clinic says it has focused on developing a model of health care for the 21st century that reduces costs and drives quality to provide the best healthcare value.
Community Health Systems says it has improved operations at the many hospitals that have been acquired over the years and is also able to continuously drive advancements in clinical outcomes and ever-improving efficiency in hospitals across the system.
“Combining the strengths, resources, and the unique attributes of our organizations is a bold step that will benefit patients across the many communities we serve,” said Wayne T. Smith, chairman, president and CEO of Community Health Systems Inc. “Our commitment to quality care has never been stronger. We have the foundation, capacity and fortitude to build an even better health care system and we look forward to working with Cleveland Clinic as we achieve even higher levels of clinical performance.”
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. It was founded in 1921 and has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S. News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation’s best hospitals in its annual “America’s Best Hospitals” survey.
About 2,800 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic Health System includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, eight community hospitals and 18 Family Health Centers in northeast Ohio, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and currently under construction, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
In 2010, there were 4 million visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 167,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 100 countries.
Community Health Systems, based in Franklin, Tenn., is one of the largest publicly-traded hospital companies in the United States and an operator of general acute care hospitals in non-urban and mid-size markets throughout the country. The company owns, leases or operates 135 hospitals in 29 states with an aggregate of approximately 20,000 licensed beds. Shares in Community Health Systems, Inc. are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CYH.”
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Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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