University Hospitals (UH) and EMH Healthcare (EMH) announced at the end of last week that they had signed a letter of intent to officially undergo an integration that will add EMH to the UH health system.
"At the forefront of this discussion is how to best serve the healthcare needs of our communities," said Donald Sheldon, EMH's CEO. "Our focus will be on the benefits that patients will see through this agreement and the efficiencies we can realize that will keep quality health care affordable for our residents and businesses."
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According to Sheldon, UH will bring investments and new services as a major benefit to the new agreement, including making EMH its flagship hospital based in Lorain County, Ohio.
“From the changes occurring with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, it’s becoming a challenging environment for mid-sized hospitals to remain totally independent. EMH continues to be in a strong financial position, but we have been seeing increasing operational challenges as the environment is evolving,” said Sheldon. “Being in position of relative strength covering an importing geographical area in greater Cleveland with a sound image and a good following of respect from the community, we felt this was the most opportune way to look for a partner and begin to go through the process.”
Sheldon said additional commitments may bring programs from internationally recognized centers, such as UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, to the EMH campuses.
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“We’ve been going through the process for over a year now and after careful review and working with UH, we understand that they have a philosophy that began several years back in which, -whenever possible - they are a system that develops a strong primary care base and delivers as much care in the local communities as possible,” he said. “I know in conversations [with UH executives] they’ve shared that they see the value we’ll bring to them. They understand our focus on quality of care and the patient all with reasonable costs. Our cultures fit very closely.”
"Meeting the health care needs of our communities has been an unwavering commitment of University Hospitals since our founding in 1866," said Thomas F. Zenty III, CEO of UH, in a press release. "This new agreement will provide the residents of Lorain County the best opportunity to continue strengthening and improving the health of their community for years to come."
EMH employs 2,100 Northeast Ohio residents and has campuses in Elyria, Amherst, Avon, Sheffield and North Ridgeville. University Hospitals employs 18,000 Ohio residents and its health system includes 10 hospitals and 20 outpatient health centers located throughout the region. Both organizations have won numerous recognitions for quality in patient care, safety and innovative practice, according to a press release.
The evaluation process is expected to last several months and hospital leadership anticipates reaching a final agreement by the end of this year, if not sooner, according to Sheldon.
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