Three moderate-sized hospitals in Washington's Olympic Peninsula region are moving toward an affiliation with Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, reports Healthcare Finance News.
The affiliation would allow Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles, Jefferson Healthcare in Port Townsend and Forks Community Hospital access to specialty care services at Swedish they cannot provide in their own facilities, as well as infrastructure to begin using electronic medical records. Olympic and Jefferson's board have voted to enter into an affiliation; the Forks Community board is scheduled to vote on the proposal later this week.
"The selection of Swedish Medical Center as our Seattle-based partner will bring patients of Jefferson County much-needed access to tertiary services and technology," said Jefferson Healthcare CEO Mike Glenn.
Glenn noted that the passage of healthcare reform put new pressures on the facilities to seek out partnerships. His and the other facilities had sought help from seven Seattle-area hospitals before settling on Swedish.
The affiliation, which would include both patient referrals and possibly the use of telemedicine services, would be the first of its kind in Washington state, according to Healthcare Finance News.
For more:
- read the Healthcare Finance News article
- read the Olympic Medical Center press release