AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Augusta University Health announced Tuesday it is partnering with the Atlanta-based Wellstar wellness attraction system.
The determination mirrors the 1 by the erstwhile University Health System’s concern this twelvemonth with Piedmont Health System, besides based successful Atlanta.
Nonprofit Wellstar says it is 1 of the largest wellness systems successful Georgia. Before the AU Health announcement, Wellstar said it had:
Nine hospitals
- Eight exigency departments
- More than 300 aesculapian bureau locations
- Nine crab centers
- More than 50 rehabilitation centers
- Three hospice facilities
- Four elder surviving centers
- 21 imaging centers
- 18 urgent-care locations
- Five wellness parks
“As a not-for-profit wellness system, our passionateness for radical extends beyond our strategy and into the communities we serve,” Wellstar says connected its website.
“Our committedness to compassionate, customized diligent attraction has earned america nationalist recognition. All of our hospitals person received the Gold Seal of Approval accreditation from The Joint Commission. In addition, we’ve earned prestigious awards successful galore of our work areas, including crab care, rehabilitation, imaging and others. Learn much astir our accreditations and certifications.”
Wellstar is the aforesaid wellness attraction strategy that precocious unopen down Atlanta Medical Center.
Here’s the announcement:
AUGUSTA, Ga. (Dec. 27, 2022) – Augusta University Health System (AUHS) has signed a missive of intent with Wellstar Health System to signifier an innovative caller concern that would grow Augusta University’s acquisition and probe missions and let Wellstar Health System to make a broader affiliation with the university’s Medical College of Georgia (MCG) arsenic AUHS joins the Wellstar Health System.
The imaginable concern is the culmination of a thoughtful and deliberate process begun successful 2019 by AUHS, its governing committee and Augusta University to strategically turn MCG portion expanding and improving some diligent attraction and Georgians’ entree to wellness attraction services crossed the state.
The projected concern would innovate objective care, grooming and probe portion adopting a palmy exemplary of bringing unneurotic community-based wellness systems and world aesculapian centers specified arsenic MCG and its teaching hospitals. MCG and Augusta University are portion of the University System of Georgia (USG), and MCG serves arsenic the lone nationalist aesculapian schoolhouse successful the state.
“AUHS, Augusta University and the Wellstar Health System person a shared ngo to lick Georgia’s wellness attraction challenges,” USG Chancellor Sonny Perdue said. “By joining forces and moving together, we tin leverage Wellstar’s objective level and leading-edge systems to enactment patients portion providing much opportunities for students to learn, bid and attraction for residents successful section communities crossed Georgia.”
Pending a definitive statement and regulatory approval, the concern would absorption connected 3 strategical initiatives:
- Expanding integer wellness offerings to make much convenient entree to attraction and supply much individualized attraction careless of location.
- Growing the pipeline of physicians and different wellness attraction providers serving Georgia by expanding the fig of students who bid and behaviour probe done MCG.
- Developing caller treatments, innovative attraction offerings and scalable attraction models to optimize the wellness and well-being of each patient.
“By bringing Augusta University Health System unneurotic with Wellstar Health System and leveraging our respective strengths, we would amended the wellness of the community, code societal determinants of wellness and grow entree to prime attraction for each Georgians,” said Candice L. Saunders, FACHE, president and main enforcement serviceman of Wellstar Health System.
While determination are aspects of the projected concern yet to beryllium determined, the concern would apt effect successful important investments to amended existing healthcare facilities and to grow entree to attraction crossed the state, including a caller infirmary and aesculapian bureau buildings successful Columbia County.
“Providing wellness attraction has ne'er been arsenic dynamic and analyzable arsenic it is today, and this concern with the Georgia-based, not-for-profit Wellstar Health System would alteration america to widen our ngo of improving wellness done excellence successful diligent care, acquisition and probe for the payment of Georgians,” said Brooks A. Keel, PhD, acting main enforcement serviceman of Augusta University Health System and president of Augusta University.
Through an expanded affiliation with the university’s Medical College of Georgia, the concern would code the request to bid much physicians and code a increasing statewide shortage. With 60 percent of MCG graduates entering a superior attraction residency, grooming much physicians successful these disciplines would enactment accrued entree to frontline attraction provided by specialists specified arsenic household medicine physicians and wide pediatricians, particularly successful underserved areas of the state.
A caller teaching field successful Atlanta astatine Wellstar Kennestone Hospital could besides beryllium established nether the projected partnership. As a result, MCG, which already has the ninth-largest freshman aesculapian schoolhouse people successful the nation, would turn to go 1 of the largest nationalist aesculapian schools successful the country.
“With our full federation facing a doc shortage and our authorities typically ranking astir 40th successful the fig of physicians per capita, educating the adjacent procreation of physicians is much captious than ever,” said David Hess, MD, dean of the Medical College of Georgia and enforcement vice president of aesculapian affairs and integration astatine Augusta University. “I’m excited astir the concern with Wellstar, since it volition alteration our students and residents to proceed to larn from immoderate of the astir highly qualified physicians and different wellness attraction professionals successful the authorities portion allowing MCG to grow its contributions to improving nationalist wellness successful Georgia particularly successful much agrarian regions.”
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