Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care and IASIS Healthcare of Franklin, Tenn., today announced a wide ranging partnership which includes the formation of a development joint venture, Aurora IASIS Health Partners, to pursue healthcare acquisitions, new construction, management of facilities and development of clinical services with an initial focus on new and existing markets in Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
Aurora IASIS Health Partners will evaluate opportunities in other markets on a case-by-case basis.
The joint venture, to be headquartered in Milwaukee, does not require regulatory approval. It will be governed by a board of directors comprised of representatives from each organization. Aurora Health Care and IASIS Healthcare will remain independent entities, governed by their current boards of directors.
The first project of the joint venture is to develop a new cancer care center in Kenosha. The center will be located on property just west of Aurora Medical Center-Kenosha. The new 11,000-square-foot facility will expand patient access to outpatient radiological oncology services in southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, which are now limited by space and technological constraints at Aurora Medical Center-Kenosha.
Other clinical service offerings also may be part of the campus where the cancer center will be built. Those plans will be announced at a later date.
In addition to the joint venture, Aurora and IASIS are exploring a variety of other affiliations including sharing clinical practices and leveraging operational capabilities across the two organizations.
The unique collaboration brings together Aurora, one of the nation’s largest integrated not-for-profit systems, and IASIS, the nation’s largest privately held hospital company.
“This partnership advances our strategy of providing our patients and communities with value in the form of high quality, affordable, accessible health care,” said Nick Turkal, M.D., chief executive officer of Aurora Health Care, a $4 billion integrated health system. “Health care is undergoing rapid and fundamental change and leading edge systems are finding ways to manage these changes. We believe, and national trends support this fact, that partnerships will be critical to meeting the challenges of the future. In IASIS, we have found a strong organization like ours, with a compatible purpose and culture that brings complementary strengths to our organization.”
“This groundbreaking joint venture brings together two organizations nationally recognized for clinical quality, operational excellence and a commitment to patient-centered care,” said Carl Whitmer, president and CEO of IASIS Healthcare, a $2.6 billion system. “Our combination of two large healthcare organizations, with complementary areas of expertise, creates new development and affiliation opportunities, access to financial and human resources to achieve strategic growth initiatives, and a unique ability for us to respond to hospitals and healthcare systems looking for a strong strategic partner.”
Aurora and IASIS also may engage in various areas of clinical affiliation, including transplant programs, clinical research projects, physician practice management collaboration, managed care initiatives for Aurora patients covered by Medicaid, medical management programs and shared clinical protocols.
