PeaceHealth and Providence Health & Services announced Tuesday a letter of intent to collaborate on health and wellness services, beginning with a new joint facility in Vancouver.
Through the collaboration, the two nonprofit Catholic organizations hope to improve access, health outcomes and the overall health in the communities they serve. The partnership will allow both organizations to leverage their strengths, clinically and financially, said PeaceHealth President and CEO Liz Dunne.
“We really believe this is an innovative, strategic partnership affiliation,” Dunne said.
The first of multiple initiatives in development is a health and wellness center — which would feature physical rehab, fitness, primary care and complementary wellness services — on Padden Parkway in Vancouver. The new facility will be built on property owned by Providence near the Padden and Interstate 205 exchange, not far from Costco.
“It won’t be another physician office clinic,” Dunne said. “The community is really ready for this sort of innovative approach.”
The facility will offer primary and specialty care, as well as preventive care and wellness services, such as fitness programs and nutrition education. Patients can receive health screenings and individual assessments, from which providers can design programs to meet their individual needs, Dunne said.
“We’re really talking about personalized medicine here,” she said.
The facility will be staffed by a combination of Providence and PeaceHealth providers. People with insurance plans accepted by the two organizations will be able to access services, whether existing patients or not. The facility also may have opportunities for other people in the community to pay for services offered at the facility, said Providence Oregon Chief Executive Dave Underriner.
The organizations hope to have the facility open by early 2017.
The collaboration also sets a framework for future collaboration between the two organizations, Underriner said. But how those efforts look may vary from community to community.
The organizations have aligning missions and long histories in the Pacific Northwest.
Vancouver-based PeaceHealth — founded in 1890 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace — has 16,000 employees, which includes a group practice with about 800 providers, and 10 medical centers in three states.
The Sisters of Providence founded Providence Health & Services nearly 160 years ago. Providence, which is based in Renton, employs more than 76,000 people and operates 34 hospitals and 475 physician clinics in five states.
The organizations’ leaders see the collaboration as a way to shift how they look at the future of health care. While most organizations do things independently, many in the Northwest are looking for ways to work together, Dunne said.
“The question should be, ‘Why didn’t we do this sooner?’ ” she said. “We believe we could build something together better than independently.”
And while the organizations are collaborating, they aren’t merging, Underriner said.
“Organizations that bring collective strengths together don’t always have to merge,” he said.
