MGH and Bell will work together to keep patients in the U.P.
MARQUETTE -- Marquette General Hospital and Bell Hospital announced Friday that they are forming a partnership designed to keep more patients in the Upper Peninsula and to create more health care jobs here.
Officials emphasize the partnership is not a merger or an acquisition. Both hospitals, they say, remain independent and financially strong.
MGH and Bell are calling the new arrangement, "Superior Health Partners". In effect, they'll be sharing resources, facilities and personnel to offer patients more options and better care.
"When local residents travel outside the U.P. for medical care, it's expensive and inconvenient for them, and jobs and dollars go with them, often to other states," said MGH CEO Gary Muller. "We know about $100 million a year leaves the U.P. with patients who seek care elsewhere."
The creation of Superior Health Partners is designed to halt that outflow of patients.
"This is not about two hospitals merging or one buying the other," explained Bell CEO Rick Ament. "It's about making two strong hospitals stronger to the benefit of our patients and the local economy."
In the past, the two Marquette County hospitals have been highly competitive with one another.
Management and the Boards of Directors of MGH and Bell have been discussing the partnership for the last several months, but officially made the announcement at noon on Friday.
Officials leave open the possibility that other hospitals in the U.P. may want to work with Superior Health Partners in the future.
To read the entire press release, click here.
To see what the Marquette Mining Journal had to say about this subject, click here.
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