Becker's Hospital Review

42 42 CEO/STRATEGY PeaceHealth to Lay Off 95 By Molly Gamble V ancouver, Wash.-based Peace- Health will lay off 95 employees as it outsources work to health information management firms in Georgia and Missouri, according to e Columbian. A new agreement with Alpharetta, Ga.- based Ciox Health will result in Peace- Health eliminating 35 jobs in medical record release and retrieval, effective in early to mid-January. An expanded agreement with Springfield, Mo.-based EDCO Health Information Solutions will result in the layoffs of 60 employees who provide document management and digital scanning services, effective in mid-November. e change in staffing follows recent outsourcing agreements struck by 10-hospital PeaceHealth. In August, e Columbian reported the system's elimination of 30 medical coder positions, some of which were outsourced to T-System, a Dallas-based company that provides emergency room documentation, coding soware and services. In February, PeaceHealth struck an agreement with Madison, N.J.-based Quest Diagnostics to outsource lab ser- vices and management at PeaceHealth hospitals in Washington state, Alaska and Oregon. e new contract resulted in the system anticipating 413 job cuts, including 271 positions in Oregon. In regard to the latest layoffs, Peace- Health officials shared the following in a written statement: "As part of our commitment to our patients and com- munities, PeaceHealth continues to en- hance how we deliver clinical excellence and compassionate care with the very best value. To further this goal, we are partnering with industry-leading health information management providers to standardize how we perform medical record scanning, document manage- ment and release of information func- tions. ese partnerships are intended to enhance care by making the digiti- zation, consolidation and secure move- ment of health information as efficient and fast as possible for our patients, partners and caregivers." n MemorialCare Unveils New Branding By Leo Vartorella F ountain Valley, Calif.-based MemorialCare in October unveiled a new brand that includes an updated logo and a new naming practice that will place the MemorialCare name ahead of all system entities. MemorialCare offers care to patients through five hospitals and numerous free-standing imaging centers, breast centers, surgical centers and dialysis centers across southern California. Their new logo features a tree, which represents Memori- alCare's many locations working together as a coordinated system. "MemorialCare's new look is more than a change of symbol, it's a symbol of how much we've changed," said Barry Arbuckle, PhD, CEO of MemorialCare. "In 20 short years, we've grown from a system of five hospitals into a fully integrated health system, de- livering care to our entire community — from the 25-year-old who needs his yearly physical for preventive care to a grandmother battling breast cancer. We are here for every person, at every age, at every stage of life." n Nearly 70% of Hospitals Are in Health Systems By Morgan Haefner A s of the end of 2016, the U.S. housed 626 health systems, according to an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality analysis. The report is based on the 2016 Compendium of U.S. Health Systems and data from the American Hospi- tal Association, among other data- bases. Here are five additional findings. 1. Of hospitals in the U.S., 69.7 per- cent are in health systems. 2. Health systems have an average of 965 hospital beds. 3. Based on number of hospitals, the largest 5 percent of health systems comprise 42.8 percent of hospitals in systems. 4. The percentage of U.S. physicians in health systems is 44.6 percent. 5. Nearly all (91.6 percent) of hos- pital discharges in the U.S. are from health systems. n St. Francis to Rebrand Following U of Kansas Health System, Ardent Takeover By Alyssa Rege S t. Francis Health, a 378-bed hospital in Topeka, Kan., will rebrand once Kansas City-based University of Kansas Health System and Nashville, Tenn.-based Ar- dent Health Services assume ownership of the hospital, according to The Tope- ka Capital-Journal. Officials on Oct. 2 said St. Francis Health will rebrand to The University of Kansas Health System St. Francis Campus once the sale closes, which is expected to occur Nov. 1. The rebranding comes four months after The University of Kansas Health System and Ardent signed an asset-to-purchase agreement for St. Francis Health. The transaction is still subject to regulatory approval. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt will accept public comments about the proposed deal through Oct. 17. n

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