BCBSM, Portage Health, Dickinson County Healthcare System, Baraga County Memorial Hospital All Join SHP Alliance
MARQUETTE – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and three new Upper Peninsula hospitals have entered into an alliance agreement with Superior Health Partners (SHP) to strengthen healthcare in the Upper Peninsula. The new hospitals include Portage Health of Hancock; Baraga County Memorial Hospital of L’Anse; and Dickinson County Healthcare System of Iron Mountain.
SHP is a healthcare delivery system formed in 2010 by Marquette General Hospital (MGH) to enable more people to receive accessible, quality healthcare in the Upper Peninsula. The alliance agreement announcement was made today at the BCBSM office in Marquette by Blue Cross, SHP and Upper Peninsula healthcare leadership representing each hospital facility.
“By combining resources, managing the talent of healthcare providers and proactively preparing for national healthcare reform, SHP will focus on enhancing quality healthcare services and medical treatments that are being delivered in the Upper Peninsula, said SHP Board Chairman Tim Larson. The agreement will create more access, improved clinical quality outcomes, patient satisfaction and create more healthcare-related employment opportunities.”
According to MGH President and SHP CEO A. Gary Muller, FACHE, “The SHP focus is to allow patients access to quality healthcare in the Upper Peninsula. We are strengthening our commitment to the region’s patients, residents, doctors, nurses and medical technicians. By providing access to affordable healthcare, creating jobs and offering options to keep patients from leaving the region for quality patient care, we are assuring our individual communities that we are committed to them.”
Portage Health President and CEO Jim Bogan said joining SHP fits Portage Health’s mission, which is to improve the health of its community by providing the highest-quality healthcare service. Healthcare access and service within the Upper Peninsula is a goal that all the participants espouse, as well as providing the jobs that support our communities.
“This partnership will enable more people to receive their healthcare close to home,” Bogan said. “As a team we are working together to provide higher quality, greater service and to manage healthcare costs.”
“High quality healthcare and its local accessibility have been the two central components of Dickinson County Healthcare System’s mission since it was founded in 1951,” commented John Schon, Administrator / CEO. “We have had a long history of strong community support, which has allowed us to grow our services and technology, double the size of our medical staff, and double the number of staff we employ. Our success has always come from the unique partnership we have with our community; the more utilization of local services, the more services we can continue to provide. Additionally, federal and state quality indicators consistently rank us as a top performer when compared to other hospitals our size.”
“National healthcare reform has added new challenges, and it is now more important than ever that we not only continue that strong partnership with our community, but find ways to collaborate with other hospitals to pool our resources for a more regional strengthening of healthcare services,” Schon continued. “As together we navigate the challenges that face us, we will all have a better chance to remain viable, and our patients will continue to receive the high quality, locally based healthcare they deserve.”
“This signifies another step in reducing fragmentation of local healthcare services, enabling the delivery of even higher quality healthcare,” stated Tim Zwickey, Baraga County Memorial Hospital CEO. “Baraga County Memorial Hospital already possesses the picture archiving and communication system (PACS) for immediate reading of all x-rays, CT scans, MRI’s, mammograms, etc., by any specialist within the SHP Alliance. This is available through the established network, along with the sharing of laboratory tests results and medical records for care delivered locally at Baraga County Memorial Hospital.”
Zwickey continued, “Arrangements have already been made to provide a pediatrician locally at the Baraga County Memorial Hospital Physician Group as a replacement for a physician who is leaving, which is an example of what the partnership, through the alliance, can deliver. This latest effort is in addition to the provision of after hours and weekend access to a hospital pharmacist for consultation with our physicians and nursing staff, and assistance with physician recruitment.”
U.P. residents will see their community healthcare organization remain independent, while the affiliation with SHP will strengthen each hospital’s ability to compete with out-of-state healthcare providers, which in recent years have systematically tried to steer specific healthcare services out of the U.P. In 2010, an estimated $70 million was spent outside of Michigan from those living in the western U.P. alone.
“This migration is a staggering trend,” said Patrick Prichard, Director of Upper Peninsula Regional Sales & Operations and West Michigan Regional Initiatives for BCBSM. “With the talent and expertise right here at home, from highly skilled primary and specialty-care physicians to state-of-the-art medical facilities, there should be no reason why patients would choose to cross the borders.” The BCBSM affiliation with SHP is a direct response to patient “outmigration” to other states, most notably Wisconsin where healthcare costs for many services are significantly higher than Michigan.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is a nonprofit corporation and an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
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