CHICAGO—University of Chicago Medicine is contributing $120,000 to sponsor a “violence interrupter” for anti-violence campaign CeaseFire for three years, a move intended to improve the communities that surround its campus. The sponsorship of the mediator is the centerpiece of an initiative that will include six screenings of a documentary film that tells the story of three interrupters as they do their work on Chicago's South and West sides.

The CeaseFire program, which was formed in 1995 by University of Illinois at Chicago researcher Gary Slutkin, takes a public health approach to reducing urban violence, working in high-crime communities to change decision-making and behavioral norms that trigger conflict (Nov. 30, 2009). Violence interrupters intervene in disputes to stop retaliations that can escalate into violence. “I think it's going to be a win-win situation for the University of Chicago and CeaseFire because no one can do this work by themselves,” CeaseFire Director Tio Hardiman said in a statement. The CeaseFire interrupters, many of whom are former gang members or were otherwise involved in crime earlier in their lives, mediated more than 900 conflicts in 2011, the statement said.

—Crain's Chicago Business

MENASHA, Wis.—Affinity Health System in Wisconsin's Fox Valley has converted from a jointly sponsored three-hospital system into an entity controlled by a single Roman Catholic hospital operator with the goal of becoming an accountable care organization. Since 1995, Affinity has had two Catholic sponsors: Ministry Health Care, affiliated with the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, linked to the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters. Effective Feb. 8, Ministry bought out the controlling interest of Wheaton Franciscan to become the sole sponsor of Affinity, which has its corporate headquarters in Menasha and operates 205-bed St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton, Wis., and 172-bed Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh, Wis., as well as Network Health Plan, with 133,000 members in northwestern Wisconsin. Under the terms of the 1995 joint operating agreement, Wheaton received an amount equal to its net investment in the system over the past 15 years, said Nick Desien, president and CEO of Ministry Health Care. He declined to release the amount, citing a confidentiality agreement. Desien said the move was motivated in part by provisions of the healthcare reform law that favor efficiency and larger organizational structures. Although Ministry Healthcare is the direct sponsor of Affinity, Ministry itself is sponsored by Marian Health System, a system based in Tulsa, Okla.

LANSING, Mich.—Sparrow Health System and Hayes Green Beach Memorial Hospital, Charlotte, Mich., have announced an affiliation agreement, as officials signed a memorandum of understanding. In the next two to three months, both parties will identify and develop programs and services they could better collaborate on to improve quality, said a Sparrow spokesman. “We are very pleased to take this first step toward an affiliation agreement,” Matt Rush, Hayes Green Beach president and CEO, said in a news release. Hayes Green Beach and Sparrow already collaborate on cardiovascular services and inpatient-care support at 25-bed Hayes Green Beach. “We recognize Hayes Green Beach as a strong healthcare collaborator in our region,” Dennis Swan, president and CEO of four-hospital Sparrow, said in the release. “Working more closely with them will afford greater opportunities to enhance care systems and produce great outcomes for patients throughout the area.”

CLARKSTON, Mich.—McLaren Health Care Corp., an eight-hospital system based in Flint, finally has moved forward with its long-expected plan to build a $308 million hospital at its 80-acre medical center site about 40 miles northeast of Detroit. The announcement is expected to meet with opposition from nearby hospital competitors, a business-labor coalition called the Economic Alliance for Michigan and the state of Michigan—the latter of which considers Oakland County to have too many medical-surgical beds for its population. If Michigan approves McLaren's certificate-of-need application, submitted Feb. 1, the hospital system would transfer 200 of 308 licensed beds from its former hospital—POH Regional Medical Center, now called McLaren-Oakland hospital in Pontiac—to the new hospital at the McLaren Health Care Village at Clarkston. McLaren officials were unavailable for comment. Two years ago, when talk resurfaced of a plan to move beds from Pontiac to Clarkston, McLaren officials cited their long-standing plan to develop a hospital in Independence Township. McLaren CEO Phil Incarnati has said that if the applications are denied, the hospital system will explore seeking legislative approval. That's what Henry Ford and St. John Providence health systems successfully did for their West Bloomfield Township and Novi hospitals, respectively. In 2005, the health systems won a case before the Michigan Supreme Court that allowed construction of the hospitals by transferring licensed beds from other hospitals.

—Crain's Detroit Business