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 Partnerships Key to Expanding Medical Services
Third in a Series (Posted March 10, 2006)
By Ken Bank, President and CEO of Northfield Hospital
In newspaper columns I have written over the past two months, I have focused on Northfield Hospital’s efforts to expand medical services in Northfield and surrounding communities. One of our major goals is to create a system of primary care clinics that will allow us to expand the patient population we serve. A second major goal is to develop a broader array of specialty services in order to meet the needs of this larger patient population.
These specialists would be based in Northfield and housed in our new medical campus, thereby expanding the medical services available locally to residents of the Northfield area. In this column, I want to explain the partnership models we have created to help us accomplish these important goals.
Approximately two years ago, we initiated our first partnership arrangement in the area of orthopedics. The Orthopaedic & Fracture Clinic (OFC) of Northfield originally opened in 1989 as part of a much larger, private orthopedic group headquartered in Mankato with clinics also in Owatonna and Faribault. OFC brought to Northfield an entirely new level of professional orthopedic services that were unlike anything available here before.
As we began more recently to envision the extension of these high-quality orthopedic services into our broader regional service area, it became apparent to both Northfield Hospital and OFC that a closer, more integrated working relationship would be mutually beneficial and also beneficial to our patients. Negotiations quickly led to a plan whereby Northfield Hospital acquired OFC of Northfield and became responsible for its employee staffing and operations. Through a Professional Services Agreement, Northfield Hospital contracted with Orthopaedic & Fracture Clinic Professional Association, the parent organization of the local clinic, to secure the ongoing services of the orthopedic surgeons already practicing in Northfield: Dr. Robert Shepley, Dr. Brad Wille, Dr. Clint Muench and Dr. William Laney. That partnership has now been in effect for more than two years. It has fostered the continued strong growth of the orthopedic practice in Northfield and has provided better mechanisms for jointly planning the expansion of services throughout the hospital’s rapidly growing clinics division.
A second partnership was created just last summer with Cannon Valley Clinic — Mayo Health System. In the spring of 2003, Cannon Valley Clinic opened an Ob/Gyn practice in Northfield. Again, it became apparent to both Cannon Valley Clinic and Northfield Hospital that a closer working relationship could allow the practice to grow more quickly and offer the opportunity to expand into a broader regional market. With that in mind, representatives from the hospital, from Cannon Valley Clinic and from Mayo Health System were able to adapt the model used for orthopedic services to create a partnership in obstetrics and gynecology.
As was the case with orthopedics, the hospital acquired the Ob/Gyn practice from Cannon Valley Clinic and through a Professional Services Agreement contracted for the services of the physicians already practicing in the clinic. That arrangement was put into effect in June of last year. Since that time, the practice has expanded into a much broader Women’s Health Center on the hospital campus and has added a third Ob/Gyn specialist, Dr. Melanie Dixon, as a partner with Dr. Deb Suppes and Dr. Ann Friedmann. This partnership has already led to the development of a very comprehensive set of women’s services that would be hard to match by any other community of Northfield’s size. Plans are already underway to add even more services as space becomes available in the new on-campus clinic for which we will be breaking ground early in the summer.
The latest partnership arrangement has been created in the area of general surgery. Dr. Jose Fulco is a highly regarded surgeon who has had a busy surgery practice out of North Memorial Hospital in Robinsdale for the past 15 years. A year ago, as a result of personal connections in the Northfield area, Dr. Fulco began to explore the possibility of moving his surgical practice to Northfield. Our partnership model met his needs perfectly; and in September of last year, Dr. Fulco joined the hospital through a Professional Services Agreement. As a result, the Northfield area now enjoys access to a surgeon who can perform a full range of typical general surgery services, and has additional expertise in colorectal surgery, breast and a variety of cancer surgeries and many types of laparoscopic procedures.
We did attempt to enter into a partnership with the Allina Medical Clinic (AMC) around primary care services, but those efforts ultimately were not successful. The AMC is a very important part of the healthcare system here in Northfield and the surrounding area, and its physicians are extremely involved and valuable contributors to every aspect of hospital operations.
Approximately six years ago, Allina and Northfield Hospital recognized the desirability of creating a closer working relationship. Discussions that occurred over the five-year period led to exploration of several possible approaches to partnering, eventually focusing on a model very similar to the partnerships we have in place with OFC, Cannon Valley Clinic and the general surgery practice. However given that the local AMC is part of the larger Allina healthcare system, the issues involved in trying to create this partnership were more complex than either of us had anticipated. Ultimately, it was concluded that the partnership agreement could not work for both parties. The AMC has decided to remain in its current location and expand its facility and services for its patients.
Although wishing the outcome could have been different, I know both organizations remain committed to maintaining ongoing, mutually supportive relationships to serve the patients in the region.
As Northfield Hospital looks forward, we continue to seek opportunities for partnerships that benefit the patients we serve. We continue to have discussions with Cannon Valley Clinic – Mayo Health System about additional opportunities to work together. We are also having discussions with other large health systems in the Twin Cities area focused on specific areas of interest, such as trauma services and cancer services. We fully expect these kinds of discussions to continue and hope that they will lead to the development of many more high quality medical services for Northfield and surrounding communities.
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