Missouri providers create collaborative network

Missouri providers have banded together to form a collaborative network to improve access and better coordinate healthcare for their patients.

Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia, Capital Region Medical Center in Jefferson City, Hannibal Regional Healthcare System, Lake Regional Health System in Osage Beach and University of Missouri Health Care in Columbia are the five founding members of the Health Network of Missouri and have more than 1,000 hospital beds, more than 9,300 employees and approximately 1,000 employed and affiliated physicians, according to a release. The organizations serve patients in adjacent counties throughout central and northeast Missouri.

“Hospitals and health systems must be innovative in developing ways to improve the health of populations, enhance the experience and outcomes of patients, and reduce per capita cost of care for the benefit of communities,” said Harold A. Williamson Jr., MD, executive vice chancellor of health affairs for the University of Missouri.

The five health systems will work together to share best practices in business, clinical and operational practices. The work of the network will be conducted by task forces comprised of physicians and other leaders from each health system. Major initiatives of the Health Network of Missouri task forces will include:

• Continuing to improve health outcomes
• Sharing data and best practices
• Improving access to care
• Ensuring patient care among various providers is coordinated seamlessly through a clinically integrated network
• Lowering healthcare costs and creating efficiencies that will benefit the patients and communities served by network members