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Today's Date: May 23, 2007

 

St. Joseph’s, Heritage Physician Group Announce Partnership

 

     HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – St. Joseph’s Mercy Health System, the largest employer in Garland County, has added 300 new co-workers to bring its total to 1,850. The new co-workers are physicians and healthcare workers from the eight Heritage Physician Group clinics in Hot Springs.

      “The integration of this multi-specialty clinic will enhance St. Joseph’s Mercy Health System to provide better technology, faster results and more coordinated care for Hot Springs and our surrounding communities,” said Tim Johnsen, CEO of St. Joseph’s Mercy Health Center. “This alliance gives us the ability for physicians and the hospital to work together to best meet the healthcare needs of the communities we serve.

     “We will now be able to develop strategic plans together, determine and fund physician recruitment together and most importantly, provide seamless, coordinated, technologically advanced care to our patients. Other benefits will be cost containment efforts through group purchasing and the inclusion in our comprehensive electronic health record scheduled to begin in the physicians’ offices next year and the hospital the year after that.”

     Heritage Physician Group, which will become St. Joseph’s Mercy Clinic,

was formed in1995. The 37 physicians and their staff will continue to serve their patients as before in the same locations. From a patient perspective, this change will be virtually seamless. Other than the name change, the new clinic will continue to participate in the same insurance plans and handle patient billing in the same manner. The integrated effort between physicians and hospital will provide a better opportunity to offer cost effective healthcare in our community.

     “The vision for this newly formed integrated group began over a year ago at one of our Heritage planning retreats and Mercy was very responsive to our requests to explore this new model of healthcare delivery” said Robert Aspell, M.D. “We are very pleased with the organizational structure and model of governance which will consist primarily of physicians. This clinic will truly be physician-led and professionally managed.”

     St. Joseph Mercy Clinic now employs the 37 physicians who previously owned

Heritage Physician Group. Their specialties include cardiovascular surgery, family practice, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, neurology, oncology, oncology, pediatrics, rheumatology and urology.

     “Having 37 physicians as co-workers at St. Joseph’s Mercy Clinic will create synergy around quality initiatives and national patient safety goals to allow us to be the leader in quality and safety initiatives which improve quality outcomes for our patients,” Johnsen said.

        A member of the Sisters of Mercy Health System, St. Joseph’s is a not-for-profit Catholic hospital and two-time recipient of the large-company Gold Award at the Governor’s Family Friendly Employer Awards ceremony in the spring of 2006 and 2007. For further information on the Arkansas Governor’s Family Friendly Employer awards, as well as services and employment opportunities offered by St. Joseph’s, please visit saintjosephs.com.