Kaiser Permanente and Emory Healthcare will partner to create a fully integrated healthcare experience at Emory University Hospital Midtown and Emory St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta, the organizations announced Wednesday.
Starting in October, the two hospitals will become the primary hospitals for physicians and members of Kaiser, which provided an undisclosed capital contribution to expand both facilities.
The providers will collaborate on physician staffing, technology improvements, care coordination, patient engagement and ongoing evaluation of performance measures, the organizations said in a news release.
Kaiser will maintain some existing service affiliations, including labor and delivery services at Northside Hospital. Emory will continue its existing relationships with all of its affiliated health plans, the health system said.
"The long-term benefits of this collaboration will serve as a national model for other health systems and extend beyond our two organizations," Dr. Jonathan Lewin, CEO of Emory Healthcare and executive vice president for health affairs of Emory University, said in a statement.
The two organizations plan to improve community health, address health care disparities, make healthcare more affordable and enhance staff training.
Emory Healthcare is an academic health system with 17,000 employees and seven hospitals. It has about $3.3 billion in annual net revenue and more than 2,000 physicians practicing in more than 70 specialties.
Not-for-profit Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser is the largest integrated healthcare provider in the country. As of March 31, Kaiser's health plan had 12.2 million members, up 472,000 from the end of 2017, driving its $1.1 billion of operating income in the first quarter of 2018.
