ST. LOUIS — SSM Health has reached a deal with a Cape Girardeau-based health system to collaborate on stroke care, maternal and fetal medicine — and potentially other services in the future.
Jeremy Fotheringham, SSM Health’s regional president for St. Louis and Southern Illinois, said there is a shortage of providers in maternal and fetal medicine and stroke care. By extending services between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, patients in both regions will benefit.
SSM will have a presence in Cape Girardeau focused on maternal and fetal medicine. And the health systems will work on systems to transfer interventional stroke patients to St. Louis — something the health systems have done episodically, but want to establish clearer systems for.
The affiliation agreement does not denote any changes to control or governance, the officials said. Saint Francis will not join SSM, as has been the trend in recent years, as the industry consolidates and hospitals increasingly join together in large health systems.
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“I think what’s so unique,” said Saint Francis President and CEO Justin Davison. “Health care is going through a great period of transition right now, nationally… I think the first inclination of many is to merge or acquire.”
Saint Francis has a 306-bed hospital in Cape Girardeau, 3,000 employees and a network of ambulatory and surgery centers. SSM has 23 hospitals and 40,000 employees in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. The affiliation with Saint Francis will mark SSM’s most significant step yet into southeast Missouri.
Fotheringham said the systems are also looking to share ideas, best practices, ideas of how to deliver care. And down the road, they will look at other services to collaborate on.
“If we don’t continue to expand, we will have missed an opportunity,” Fotheringham said. “This is a transformative agreement for both organizations. We’re excited about where it can go.”
Davison said that the health systems have shared goals and shared heritage. He noted that both were founded by nuns who immigrated to the Midwest from Germany, about 150 years ago.
“I think it’s somewhat poetic,” Davison said, “that there’s opportunity for collaboration between the organizations.”
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