23 Georgia hospitals form alliance

(This article was corrected on July 25, 2013.)

A group of 23 hospitals in central and south Georgia have formed an alliance to pool resources, coordinate information and manage population health in the region.

The new organization is a not-for-profit limited-liability corporation named Stratus Healthcare and was conceived as a way for the providers to collaborate while remaining independent. It grew out of the April 2012 partnership between Central Georgia Health System, Macon, and Tift Regional Health System, Tifton.

The Georgia healthcare landscape is divided between the four or five integrated systems that dominate the Atlanta market and the largely unconnected hospitals in the rest of the state, said Ninfa Saunders, who joined the Central Georgia Health System as president and CEO in September.

“The one thing I thought was missing was the ability to coalesce this region,” she said. “As opposed to competing with each other, you can come together for a common goal.”

A governing body consisting of the CEOs from each of the medical centers will oversee the alliance.

Stratus is part of a small but growing number of alliances that aim to embrace a looser partnership model instead of a formal takeover agreement. In October, for instance, four systems in Missouri and Illinois formed the BJC Collaborative as a way to take advantage of the benefits of size and scale without losing their autonomy.

The members of Stratus chose to focus on a non-equity partnership because it was a quicker route to working together—and because they were reluctant to cede control.

“They really want to be independent,” Saunders said. “No one wants to do mergers and acquisitions.”

Stratus will focus initially on developing networks for primary and specialty care as well as creating hospitalist and emergency medicine programs that will allow members to create clinical guidelines, establish transfer arrangements, share information through telemedicine and learn from best practices.

On population health, Saunders said, the members intend to adopt the performance goals of an accountable care organization without participating in a formal shared-savings program.

Follow Beth Kutscher on Twitter: @MHbkutscher

(This article has been corrected to indicate that Ninfa Saunders is not a physician.)