Holland (Mich.) Hospital and the University of Michigan Health have formed a strategic alliance that should benefit patients across West Michigan by allowing both organizations to identify and pursue opportunities that support high-quality clinical services locally.
The three-year agreement, which took effect Dec. 7, aims to provide clinical specialties to Lakeshore residents that Holland Hospital alone is not able to provide and reduce the need for patients to travel to receive specialty care.
"This collaboration will provide the Holland community with local access to U-M Health specialists that Holland Hospital couldn’t otherwise offer," David Miller, MD, president of Lansing-based U-M Health, said in a Dec. 7 news release. "We have already partnered with Holland Hospital on treatment services such as neuroscience. We know this collaboration will bring more choice and local access that will improve patients’ experience."
The joint initiative offers patients access to specialists at U-M Health in Ann Arbor and U-M Health West in Wyoming, Mich., in addition to the care offered by providers at Holland Hospital. In cases where highly specialized subspecialty care is clinically indicated, patients may be referred to Ann Arbor, but pre-and post-care will be done locally, according to the health systems. Among the initiatives being considered is a clinical partnership in support of a newly constructed ambulatory site in West Michigan.
The alliance is not a merger or acquisition, and it does not change Holland Hospital's ownership, governance or organizational integration.