Late last year, the word on the street pointed to a potential merger between Samaritan Health Services and Legacy Health. Together their 11 hospitals cover a very wide region, including the Portland metropolitan area and the western half of the state. Along with hundreds of employed physicians, this conglomerate could have been a formidable presence in the marketplace.
At that time, Larry Mullins, president of Samaritan told The Lund Report in a face-to-face interview,
“It’s certainly fair to say that Legacy is one of the parties that we’re having conversations with. I like Legacy, and I like George Brown (its president). It’s a great organization, but it’s premature to say we’re merging. There’s always a possibility but we’re also working with other organizations on other projects, and are having a robust conversation with PeaceHealth on bio-preparedness and Ebola.
“There’s a likelihood of several announcements coming out on multiple fronts in 2015 – maybe even some by year end but again it’s premature right now. Certainly on the operational side of the house Legacy is a friend of ours, and George is a friend of mine-- so stay tuned.
“We talk to a lot of great people all the time on how we can work better to improve healthcare services in our community, and Legacy is a party I could certainly work with. We are constantly evaluating our positon and capability to serve this community. Several years back there was a hot rumor we were selling to Dignity Health but that didn’t happen.”
But today, that scenario seems to have changed dramatically. Yesterday, Mullins told The Lund Report, that “we’re nowhere near or close to that level of engagement,” adding, “we’re having a lot of conversations but I wouldn’t anticipate any announcement in the near future. That doesn’t mean it won’t necessarily materialize. I never say never on anything.”
A few weeks ago Mullins did announce a formal collaboration with Stanford Health Care and its Stanford Cancer Center to enhance cancer care, education and clinical research in the region.
A cooperative agreement has been signed, and the collaboration launches this fall, to coincide with the opening of Samaritan’s cancer center. Specialists in the Corvallis region will have the opportunity to consult with Stanford’s team, and have access to their tumor board and protocols, communicating via telemedicine enabling them to have virtual conversations. .
It’s unlikely that patients will have to travel to California for treatment unless services are unavailable at Samaritan, Mullins confirmed. Electronic medical records will be shared, along with information technology tools.
Eventually, Mullins expects to collaborate with Stanford on other disease protocols. “Once we’ve answered all the questions and worked through all the protocols for cancer, we’ll examine other possibilities,” he said. “Right now I don’t want to rule anything in or out.”
Stanford was chosen because of its national and international ranking on cancer care, after Mullins met its medical center president when they both appeared at a conference.
“We hit it off on a number of fronts and decided to explore the possibilities.”
The $15-million-dollar fundraising campaign to support Samaritan’s state-of-the-art cancer center and program expansion is the largest in the organization’s history. Led by the Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation, it includes $12.2 million to build the new center, including construction and expansion of the existing Mario Pastega House, $1.8 million to build a program endowment and support services, and an additional $1 million to develop a regional patient navigation program and resource center. Nearly $9 million has been raised to date.
“We are excited about the new partnership with Stanford,” Mullins said. “Along with providing valuable resources to our patients and providers, the collaboration presents a number of opportunities for our organization to enhance cancer care for patients in our service area.”
Health insurance on target
Mullins also confirmed that Samaritan is on track to compete with all the commercial plans in the area – Regence, Providence and PacificSource and become a statewide player in the marketplace.
“We’ll offer a unique combination of a health plan and delivery network,” he said. “Over the years we’ve learned a lot from our CCO development, and want to share the lessons with the commercial side of the house. We’re positioning ourselves right now, and will have a much more robust approach to the health plan market with the use of brokers.
Diane can be reached at [email protected].
