July 13, 2013 -- Mid-Columbia Medical Center (MCMC) and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) announced efforts to explore aligning medical and administrative services to improve efficiency and expand access to care.
If successful, an agreement will help provide Gorge residents with increased local access to a far broader range of healthcare services and the expertise and vast resources of the state’s only academic health institution.
Mid-Columbia Medical Center and OHSU will soon sign a letter of intent and begin formal discussions to explore both the details and the logistics of alignment. If agreement can be reached, the two organizations will formalize an agreement and establish a timeline for a process to move forward.
“The success of our past relationships with OHSU led us to believe that additional alignment would be highly beneficial,” said Mid-Columbia Medical Center President and CEO Duane Francis.
“I want to stress that we are not merging our two organizations. MCMC will remain independent, locally controlled and overseen by a volunteer board of local citizens, just as it has been throughout our existence. But we will be looking for more opportunities to share some services with OHSU and align others, allowing both organizations to better meet community health needs. With the changing landscape of healthcare due to health reform, relationships such as this proposed alignment have tremendous advantages for community hospitals like ours,” said Duane Francis.
For several years, Mid-Columbia Medical Center and OHSU have collaborated in certain specialty areas to offer increased service to The Dalles-area residents. For example, OHSU provided resources to strengthen MCMC’s cardiovascular services in 2009, resulting in increased service and a reduced need for travel to Portland for many Columbia Gorge residents.
A similar arrangement was later developed that allowed MCMC to expand itsorthopedics services to fill an unmet need in the community. In addition, MCMC is part of the OHSU Telemedicine Network, which allows physicians in the Mid-Columbia region to easily connect with specialists at OHSU for long-distance consultations for stroke, pediatric and neonatal emergency consultations.
A closer alignment of MCMC and OHSU would produce several benefits for patients and staff including:
- Partnerships in certain specialized areas to help patients receive care close to home whenever possible.
- Providing additional investment in Mid-Columbia Medical Center’s electronic medical records system, a critical requirement of health reform.
- Helping MCMC maintain its stewardship of local health care resources and therefore enhancing its ability to fund needed facility improvements.
“This alignment will have a direct, positive impact on the health of Oregonians, which is a core mission for OHSU and also for Mid-Columbia Medical Center,” said Peter Rapp, OHSU Executive Vice President and Executive Director of OHSU Healthcare.
“Our institutions embarked on this process because of our shared commitment to strategic affiliation, our core values of community service, our focus on patient centered care and our role in seeking to be leaders in innovation and preventative medicine,” said Peter Rapp.
