Marshall, Mich.-based Oaklawn Hospital and Kalamazoo, Mich.-based Borgess Health Alliance have created a new organization called THINK Health.
THINK Health has been established effective immediately "to allow Oaklawn and Borgess to collaborate and design innovative approaches to improve patient care," officials for the two healthcare organizations said.
Each hospital will remain independent of the other, with collaboration occurring through THINK Health, whose name reflects the concepts of transformation, healing, inspiration, nurture and knowledge.
THINK Health is a 50/50 partnership between Oaklawn and Borgess.
The organization's oversight committee, which will include an equal number of individuals from each hospital, will evaluate strategic initiatives and make recommendations to a board of managers made up of the CEO from each hospital, who will share the responsibility for decision-making equally, according to a news release.
Ginger Williams, MD, Oaklawn's president and CEO, expressed excitement about the partnership.
"Our values line up very well and we can see tremendous opportunities being developed together. This will be a great expansion of our existing relationship with the excellent team at Borgess," she said in a prepared statement.
Oaklawn is licensed for 77 acute-care and 17 inpatient psychiatric beds. Borgess Health Alliance operates hospitals and related healthcare facilities, serving more than 1 million people through owned or affiliated hospitals and satellite facilities in more than a dozen cities in southwest Michigan.