“This partnership exemplifies the mission of both organizations to improve the health of the communities that we serve,” said Debbie Hayes, president and CEO of the Christ Hospital Health Network.
The partnership will combine the efforts of heart and vascular clinicians from both Christ Hospital Health and Premier Health to strengthen capabilities and ensure access, Hayes said.
“Expanding services to this area is a shining example of how health care organizations can work together to tackle the challenges facing our communities,” Hayes said.
For patients, this will include reducing barriers to get specialized procedures, like a heart transplant.
“There’s a continuity for the patient between subspecialists that are currently not located in Dayton but are located in Cincinnati and in the program at Christ,” said Lainie Dean, chief strategy officer of Premier Health. “These are highly specialized programs like heart transplants for example. We do not do heart transplants in Dayton anywhere.”
By being connected, patients can receive care locally in Dayton, but also experience a more streamlined experience to receive specialized procedures done through Christ Hospital, Dean said. They also plan to have their data systems updated to where they can share patient information more easily between health care providers in each network.
“The processes that we’re going to be creating will be seamless and easy compared to if there were two separate entities,” Dean said.
“Premier Health is resolute in its commitment to improving the health of the communities we serve with others – in this case with an outstanding heart program at the Christ Hospital Health Network,” said Michael C. Riordan, president and CEO of Premier Health. “This collaboration lays the foundation for what we anticipate will be a long-term, world-class combined heart and vascular program that gives residents of Southwest Ohio confidence that they can get the best heart care closer to home.”
The partnership allows for more sharing of resources to reduce the need to build additional facilities, the networks said.
“It’s really trying to get the experience where it needs to be for the consumer,” Dean said. “And also from a health system perspective, we have to think differently. We all have scarce resources—whether you’re talking about capital, whether you’re talking about physician subspecialists—there’s only so much to go around, so when you can you can benefit by giving them a greater geographic market, it allows there to be more efficiency.”
“This innovative collaboration is the broadest partnership yet for both health systems, and the real winner is the patient, who will now have a range of stellar heart care options close at hand,” said Dr. Keith Bricking, chief clinical officer of Premier Health. “Both of these heart programs are widely respected and have traditions of innovation, and this partnership builds upon that track record of clinical excellence.”
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