Milestones come as company strengthens focus on high-quality coordinated care
<0> DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc.Media:Lauren MoughonOffice: 303-876-6612Mobile: 206-724-3826 </0>
DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. (NYSE:DVA) today announced that the company has reached two important milestones as of the end of the first quarter of 2013 – owning or operating more than 2,000 centers, and employing more than 50,000 teammates.
While its dialysis division, DaVita®, remains a key component of DaVita HealthCare Partners’ mission, over the past 18 months the company has expanded into other areas of health care. In November 2012, a merger with HealthCare Partners® (a leading manager and operator of medical groups and physician networks) added primary and specialty care to the company’s portfolio. And in February 2011, DaVita subsidiary Paladina Health® opened its first clinic – an employer-sponsored medical home for DaVita’s own teammates – in Tacoma, Wash. Paladina Health (operating in some states as Modern Med) now serves 12 states and provides primary and basic urgent care to patients through worksite-based and stand-alone clinics.
“Integrated, coordinated care is quite simply the future of health care,” said Kent Thiry, DaVita HealthCare Partners co-chairman and CEO. “It’s better for patients, it’s better for health care providers, and it’s better for businesses and taxpayers.”
Both DaVita and HealthCare Partners are focused on improving patients’ quality of life and cutting health care costs, largely through a reduction in hospitalizations. By offering coordinated primary and specialty care for patients with chronic illnesses, HealthCare Partners has reduced hospitalizations throughout its operating areas. The average hospital stay for HealthCare Partners' patients is 3.3 days, while the national average is about 6 days.
As part of its work to reduce hospitalizations, in 2008 DaVita launched the “CathAway” program, through which more than 12,000 patients have been transitioned from infection-prone central venous catheters (CVCs) for dialysis access to much safer arteriovenous fistulas, which also provide better clinical outcomes. In 2009, the U.S. Renal Data Service estimated that dialysis patients with fistulas had lower health care costs than those with CVCs by almost $20,000 annually.
“Improving quality of care while reducing costs should be the primary goal of any health care provider,” Thiry said. “It’s just the right thing to do.”
DaVita, DaVita HealthCare Partners, Healthcare Partners, Paladina Health and Modern Med are trademarks or registered trademarks of DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
DaVita HealthCare Partners, a Fortune 500® company, is the parent company of DaVita and HealthCare Partners. DaVita is a leading provider of kidney care in the United States, delivering dialysis services to patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. As of Dec. 31, 2012, DaVita operated or provided administrative services at 1,954 outpatient dialysis centers located in the United States serving approximately 153,000 patients. The company also operated 36 outpatient dialysis centers located in eight countries outside the United States. HealthCare Partners manages and operates medical groups and affiliated physician networks in California, Nevada, Florida and New Mexico in its pursuit of delivering excellent quality health care in a dignified and compassionate manner. For more information, please visit .