Baton Rouge, La.-based General Health System, the parent company of Baton Rouge General Medical Center, and New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System have signed a letter of intent to form an integrated, strategic partnership.
Here are seven things to know about the planned partnership.
1. The partnership will encompass all hospitals and clinics in the Greater Baton Rouge area including Baton Rouge General's Mid-City and Bluebonnet campuses, as well as Ochsner Medical Center – Baton Rouge.
2. The partnership is not a merger or acquisition. Rather, it creates a joint operations structure, providing an opportunity to deliver care through a combined integrated system that includes joint governance, management and financial integration, according to both parties.
3. Once final, the partnership will involve a wide range of patient care and wellness services, including:
- Comprehensive inpatient and outpatient hospital care
- Primary care and specialty medicine physician practices
- A freestanding emergency department
- Urgent care clinics
- Home health
- Skilled nursing and post-acute services
- Behavioral wellness
- Inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation
- Outpatient imaging
- Comprehensive burn care
- Infusion and radiation therapy services
4. Additionally, the partnership will provide comprehensive cardiovascular and cancer services including surgery, infusion and radiation therapy services, according to a news release.
5. GHS/Baton Rouge General President and CEO Mark Slyter will serve as CEO of the partnership.
6. Both Ochsner Clinic Physicians and Baton Rouge General Physicians will be included in the integrated system's leadership team. This partnership will not affect the employment of either group.
7. "The challenges we currently face as healthcare providers are unprecedented," Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Ochsner Health System, said in a prepared statement. "To lead the change in these uncertain times, Ochsner has been proactive and has formed strategic partnerships across the state. We have demonstrated our ability to add value in every partnership to improve quality and lower the cost of care. Today, two organizations are coming together to deliver the highest quality healthcare at the lowest cost in the greater Baton Rouge area and to make our communities stronger and healthier."
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