Picture a beautifully carpeted "Main Street," complete with a water fountain and a smiling volunteer at the coffee cart waiting to get you something tasty. It may not sound like your typical hospital, but that's because many people in the U.P. have not yet experienced the new
Bell Hospital building in Ishpeming. A new health care delivery system coming to the area this summer may soon change perceptions and experiences.
Superior Health Partners -- a non-profit partnership between Bell and
Marquette General Hospital -- will focus on increasing the quality and availability of health care in the U.P. Rick Ament, CEO of Bell, says one of SHP's main priorities is to slow "outmigration," or the trend of U.P. residents seeking health care outside the area.
"SHP will not completely stop outmigration, but it'll be the starting place," he says.
According to the
Michigan Hospital Association, $100 million worth of health care is sought by U.P. residents outside the U.P. on a yearly basis. MGH CEO Gary Muller says that money could create from 200 to 300 health care jobs here, and SHP will aim to create those jobs.
"People don't need to go," he says. "People staying here create the jobs. Instead of building new businesses, let's keep people here. Keeping people here is a win for the tourism industry as well when their relatives come to visit."
Muller and Ament say other priorities of SHP include creating value for patients, lowering health care cost, consolidation of information technology between hospitals, physician recruitment, patient satisfaction and stimulating the local economy. Muller added that all patient files between Bell and MGH will be on the same electronic platform, eliminating difficulty for Bell patients to be referred to MGH and vice versa. With the two hospitals partnering up, both CEOs say their decades-old rivalry will finally end.
"We'll be recruiting physicians jointly instead of competing. We'll also have one IT system and the ability to purchase supplies as a group," Muller says. "The boards of both hospitals have been meeting for eight months now and it's really changed everyone's thinking."
He added that at least 20 service lines will benefit from the partnership, including women's care, vascular care and orthopedics.
Ament says the conception for SHP came when Bell strategists looking at the hospital's long-term future approached MGH with the idea of a partnership.
"We have a new hospital and mapped out three years of our strategic plan. We wanted to make sure that what we did next was not at the expense of MGH," says Ament.
Muller says, "We'll talk together about common ways to take care of a patient."
Since SHP was conceived, both Muller and Ament have made presentations to the public to gauge community support.
"I was actually worried how the community would take it," Ament says. "They have supported (Bell) with everything, but they obviously understand the big picture. They were surprised at the respectful chemistry between the two hospitals, and we hope to get that same chemistry between all the health care employees."
Lifelong U.P. resident and MGH board chairman Tim Larson says he is "very excited" for SHP to launch this summer.
"As a member of the community, I want high quality health care for my family and friends," he says. "I was hoping a partnership like this would someday happen. Having a common mission and vision would be great for Marquette County."
Larson will step down from the MGH board in December and transition to the SHP board.
"I'm extremely excited to be a part of this. I'm looking forward to this summer," he says.
Both hospitals estimate that SHP will begin operations by this July and say that more serious talks with other hospitals will take place at that time.
"SHP is really a continuation of collegiality among most hospitals," says Muller. He added that for the past two years MGH has developed loose associations with other hospitals in Dickinson County, Baraga, Newberry, Schoolcraft, Manistique, Iron River and Houghton.
"Loose associations can only do so much," Ament says. "They are nice but we couldn't share pricing info and other data legally. We had to have a stronger bond in order to do these things legally and appropriately."
With a positive outlook on SHP's future, both CEOs expect about 50 percent participation. Ament says he hopes SHP will become the "new norm" of health care.
Muller agrees. "Bell and MGH can hopefully demonstrate that times are changing and people need to work together," he says.
Becky Korpi is an Ishpeming-born Yooper and freelance journalist. She is also a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and keeps a blog; check it out if you like pictures of noodles, tigers and rice paddy sunsets. She can be contacted via email.