Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare is partnering with the Yale New Haven Health System in an effort to capitalize on the academic center’s brand and clinical expertise, the two systems announced today.
The Tenet-Yale partnership is the latest in a series of partnerships between publicly traded health chains and academic medical centers.
The combination is expected to enhance the efficiency and coordination of healthcare in the Connecticut region by offering comprehensive clinical services to a larger geographic area. Additional goals include creating a clinically integrated delivery platform with local physician groups and entering into value-based contractual relationships with employers and other payers of healthcare services. Under the terms of the agreement, Yale New Haven and Tenet will remain independent of each other.
“The Yale New Haven Health System has a strong reputation for innovation and shares Tenet’s intense focus on delivering high-quality, patient-centered healthcare,” said Keith Pitts, vice chairman of Tenet Healthcare. “This agreement capitalizes on the respective strengths of both organizations and will enhance the clinical care—and the access to that care—in the communities we serve. The partnership will bring improved clinical technologies, increased economies of scale, and capital resources to the hospitals, ambulatory care centers, and physician practices that we will become affiliated with in the future.”
Partnership discussions began when Vanguard Health Systems, which Tenet acquired last October, began looking at hospital acquisitions in Connecticut. Vanguard had letters of intent in place with Waterbury Hospital, Bristol Hospital, and Eastern Connecticut Health Network, a two-hospital group with facilities in Manchester and Rockville.
“We are excited to bring a truly innovative solution to some of the challenges in the Connecticut healthcare landscape through our partnership with Tenet,” said Marna Borgstrom, chief executive officer of Yale New Haven Health System. “This agreement continues our efforts to provide patients with accessible, patient-focused healthcare services in more locations. In addition, Tenet’s leadership in patient care quality and innovations in technology and operational efficiency will strengthen our ability to provide even better service to our patients, employees, and physicians.”
Tenet and Yale New Haven are following in the footsteps of the Cleveland Clinic and Community Health Systems, among other partnerships. These alliances are formed in an attempt to combine outcomes-driven, medically-complex academic medical centers and the operational discipline of a large and successful hospital chain.
