Washington: Providence to lease, operate clinics in Walgreens stores
Providence Health and Services (Renton, WA) formed an agreement with Walgreen Co (Deerfield, IL) to lease space within several of its drugstores in Oregon and Washington and operate its own clinics. Over the next two years, Providence will staff up to 25 clinics at Walgreens drugstores, with the first six opening in Washington by early 2016. A Providence official said the move would make it easier to coordinate care because each clinic would share the same IT and EHR systems. The deal marks the first time Walgreen has agreed to allow a health system to own and manage clinics at its stores.
Arizona: Banner Health names new hospital leaders
Banner Health (Phoenix, AZ) announced leadership changes at two of its hospitals in Colorado and Nebraska. Jeffrey Shelton will become the new CEO of Sterling Regional MedCenter (Sterling, CO) effective September 2015, replacing interim CEO Kelly Hurt. Shelton was previously CEO at Newman Memorial Hospital (Shattuck, OK). In addition, Ogallala Community Hospital (Ogallala, NE) CNO Aileen Chandler was named interim CEO. She replaces Sharon Lind, who became CEO of Banner Ironwood Medical Center (San Tan Valley, AZ) and Banner Goldfield Medical Center (Apache Junction, AZ).
Michigan: Six Michigan health systems create care network
Six healthcare systems in Michigan created a new partnership to share information and adopt common standards. Under the agreement, each system will and remain operationally independent. The six systems are Lakeland HealthCare (St Joseph, MI), Bronson Healthcare Group (Kalamazoo, MI), Sparrow Health System (Lansing, MI), Allegiance Health (Jackson, MI), Covenant HealthCare System (Saginaw, MI), and MidMichigan Health (Midland, MI). The network will be led by Lakeland’s president and CEO Loren Hamel, who will also serve as vice chairman of the 12-member board that will oversee the network. It does not yet have an official name.
New York: North Shore-LIJ, Maimonides announce strategic partnership
North Shore-LIJ Health System (Great Neck, NY) and Maimonides Medical Center (Brooklyn, NY) entered into a strategic partnership. North Shore-LIJ and Maimonides will pursue a full integration in a phased approach that will begin immediately with a comprehensive strategic partnership with both institutions maintaining their independence and separate governance structures. Maimonides will continue to operate as a full-service, tertiary, and teaching hospital. The strategic partnership will comprise joint ventures and other activities and North Shore-LIJ will work with Maimonides to enlarging its ambulatory network of clinical services. North Shore-LIJ will also provide Maimonides with capital resources and access to its extensive shared services infrastructure and expertise, enabling the hospital management to make needed investments while continuing to improve operating efficiencies.
Maryland: CMS selects Booz Allen Hamilton to run HealthCare.gov
CMS (Baltimore, MD) selected Booz Allen Hamilton (McLean, VA) as the lead contractor for HealthCare.gov. The five-year contract is worth $202 million. CMS will temporarily retain Optum subsidiary Quality Software Services as the site’s quality tester for the time being.