Arlington Heights, Ill.-based Amita Health, the joint operating company created through the merger of St. Louis-based Ascension and Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based Adventist Health System subsidiaries, revealed plans to cut the number of outpatient care sites in half, according to Crain's Chicago Business.
Amita Health President and CEO Mark Frey confirmed Amita Health's plan to Crain's to consolidate the services offered at 250 outpatient facilities and medical offices to 125 ambulatory care locations. The transition will occur during the next two years.
The consolidation efforts are part of the system's $150 million ambulatory care expansion plan, which was announced last year, according to the report. A second Amita Health official told Crain's the cost of the plan may change, as Ascension added 170 care sites after acquiring Chicago-based Presence Health in March 2017.
The goal of the plan, officials said, was to update Amita Health's business model by bringing smaller facilities together under one roof. Mr. Frey pointed to some of Amita Health's physician practices, which typically include one or two physicians. That type of business model is not substantial, Mr. Frey told Crain's. Instead, officials aim to combine groups of six to nine physicians with specialists and ancillary services, he said.
Amita Health was formed through the merger of Ascension's Alexian Brothers Health System in Arlington Heights, Ill., and Adventist Health System's Adventist Midwest Health in Hinsdale, Ill., in 2015.
To access the full report, click here.
Editor's note: Becker's Hospital Review reached out to Amita Health for comment and will update the report as more information becomes available.