Ascension Forges First-ever Global Supply Chain Company to Reduce Costs
“Ascension is partnering with a large Australia-based international hospital company to form what appears to be the first-ever global supply chain firm,” Modern Healthcare reports. “A major goal of the joint venture between Ascension and Sydney-based Ramsay Health Care, announced Tuesday [May 1], is to reduce costs at Ascension’s 151 U.S. hospitals and hundreds of other not-for-profit facilities to the levels in lower-cost countries. The joint venture is part of Ascension’s new strategic direction, announced in March, that includes downsizing hospital operations and expanding ancillary businesses such as group purchasing. Until now, there have been no meaningful efforts to rationalize the healthcare supply chain internationally, even though that’s been done in other industries. Much higher prices for drugs and other products in the U.S. are a major contributor to much higher healthcare spending here compared with other advanced countries.”
SSM Health Announces New President of its Medical Group in St. Louis
“SSM Health Medical Group in St. Louis is welcoming Dang (Don) Tran, MD as its new president,” announced SSM Health. “Tran is a board certified Family Medicine physician and comes from Fairview Health Services – a Minnesota-based integrated health system – where he was Vice President of Medical Practice for the health system. In his new role with SSM Health, Tran is responsible for growth and management of the region’s physician practices and the medical group’s retail and urgent care clinics. In addition, he will partner with system leadership on programs related to telemedicine and value-based care and payment. Tran will assume his new role June 11, 2018.”
5 Questions with Dignity Health’s New Bay Area Market Chief Strategy Officer
“Mona Chadha has primarily spent her career focused on life sciences and biotechnology. But on April 23, she began a new kind of role at San Francisco-based Dignity Health, one of the nation’s largest health systems, as chief strategy officer of the Bay Area market. At Dignity Health, Ms. Chadha leads strategic initiatives at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, Calif., and Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, Calif. She also leads strategic initiatives at St. Mary’s Medical Center and Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, both in San Francisco. She recently spoke with Becker’s Hospital Review about her new position, the challenges she faces and her leadership mantra.” Read the entire interview on Becker’s Hospital Review website HERE.
Bon Secours, VCU Health Partner with Virginia Premier to Offer Individual Insurance Market Plan
“In response to an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable individual market, two major Richmond health systems have teamed up with an insurer to offer a plan of their own. Virginia Premier, a VCU Health-owned insurer, has filed plans with Virginia’s Bureau of Insurance to offer four plans next year, networking with Bon Secours and VCU Health providers. The move marks the insurer’s first foray into the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace,” reports the Richmond-Times Dispatch. “Virginia Premier CEO Linda Hines said talks began around last September when it became clear that the Richmond area would have only one insurance option on the individual market for this year. Virtually all the insurance companies had left the market, noted Tony Herbert, Bon Secours’ vice president for managed care, which ‘left virtually no choice.’”
Duluth’s Essentia Health Plans State’s Biggest Medical Expansion Project
“An $800 million project announced Thursday [May 24] would replace Duluth’s biggest hospital while also making renovations to related facilities across its downtown campus over the next four years. Duluth-based Essentia Health said it will build a new St. Mary’s Medical Center plus a clinic building and an outpatient surgery center as part of a plan called ‘Vision Northland,’ which hospital officials say is the largest private development in Duluth’s history,” according to the Star Tribune. “The health system plans to spend $675 million on new facilities that span 800,000 square feet, plus $125 million for renovation of existing buildings, site preparation and financing costs. The development is the largest in a string of hospital projects in Minnesota announced over the past year or so, including $217 million for improvements at Mayo Clinic’s St. Marys hospital campus in Rochester.”
3 Reasons Providence St. Joseph, Ascension Didn’t Merge
“Toward the end of 2017, the Wall Street Journal cited anonymous sources in reporting that a merger between Providence St. Joseph Health and Ascension might be imminent. That story proved more than a little premature. HealthLeaders Media recently spoke with Rod Hochman, MD, president and CEO of Providence St. Joseph Health, who opened up about the extent of the merger discussions and shared why the union with Ascension didn’t happen.” Read the interview HERE.
