The Arizona Board of Regents
approved an integration proposal submitted by University Medical
Center and University Physicians Healthcare.
The proposal calls for the
creation of a new company that will oversee both entities and
combine the clinical enterprise of the hospitals. The approval was
given at the Board of Regents meeting in Flagstaff June 11.
The integration is expected to be
completed once approved by UMC and UPH boards later this month, but
the actual integration process will occur over several
months.
This action serves to enhance the
existing partnership among UPH, UMC and the UA, supporting their
mutual goals. It also will expand patient care, train new
physicians and other healthcare professionals, and continue
advancing clinical science to diagnose and treat human
disease.
The boards of directors and
management teams of both entities, in conjunction with the
University of Arizona, worked to create the terms of the
integration and submitted the proposal to ABOR.
Combining the clinical enterprise
of both organizations offers many benefits, including coordination
and integration of patient care, opportunities to create a combined
electronic medical record, a stronger unified community presence
and a much closer alignment with the UA College of Medicine. The
integration also encourages joint strategic planning, funding and
execution of key initiatives, as well as coordinated branding,
marketing and philanthropic efforts.
A comprehensive market research
and branding effort is under way to develop the brand of the new
enterprise to position the new company among the very top academic
healthcare organizations in the Southwest.