Banner Health announces new emergency department contract
GREELEY, Colo. (Feb. 22, 2011) — Banner Health has announced that, effective May 22, 2011, it will contract with TeamHealth, a national organization heavily focused in the provision of physician hospital-based services, to serve in the management role of physicians and the care they provide in NCMC’s Emergency department. Therefore, Banner Health has also informed North Colorado Emergency Physicians, P.C., that the group’s contract to manage physician services in NCMC’s Emergency department will end at that time.
“In order to more fully meet the needs of the patients NCMC serves, we feel that the expertise and resources of a nationally experienced group will be beneficial in managing the physician component in our ER,” said NCMC CEO, Rick Sutton. “We’re very grateful to the individual members of North Colorado Emergency Physicians for their dedication to our community, and we’re confident that many, if not most, of the physicians currently in our ER will remain at NCMC as a part of TeamHealth,” he continued.
TeamHealth began 30 years ago as an emergency medicine company and today manages physician groups in more than 550 hospitals in 42 states. This includes two of Banner Health’s 23 hospitals. TeamHealth also manages two Urgent Care centers in Colorado Springs.
“TeamHealth is committed to patient-centered health care delivery, with the hospital, physicians and TeamHealth working collaboratively to continually improve the patient’s experience with emergency care,” said Dr. Rick Carvolth, CEO of TeamHealth West.
The NCMC Emergency Department will continue to offer a full scope of emergency services and Level II Trauma services during the transition. If a medical condition arises that requires emergency treatment, call 911 or go to the Emergency Department.
“It is our goal through our partnership with TeamHealth to continuously improve overall patient care, increase patient satisfaction with the E.D. experience, minimize patient wait times and reduce operating costs,” Sutton said.
In 2010, 41,738 patients received care in NCMC’s emergency center. Further, 9,513 of these patients were admitted into the hospital.
Throughout the country, healthcare processes are becoming much more integrated to improve the quality of health care delivery and outcomes for patients. At Banner Health, this integration process includes the implementation of a comprehensive electronic medical records system in all hospital units and physician clinics that connect all Banner patients and physicians into a single data base. It also includes other technology such as electronic Intensive Care Unit (eICU) capabilities that allow intensive care physicians and nurses to provide an extra layer of care to their colleagues caring for the most ill patients in hospital intensive care units. “We’re impressed by TeamHealth’s orientation towards this type of integration,” Sutton said.
Banner Health was recently recognized in Modern Healthcare magazine as one of the Top Ten integrated health systems in the nation. Banner is also recognized as a Top 10 health system in the nation by Thomson Reuters, which also was published in Modern Healthcare magazine.
ABOUT NORTH COLORADO MEDICAL CENTER
NCMC is a fully accredited, private, not-for-profit facility licensed to operate 398 beds. It serves as a regional medical center with community-based and specialty services in a service area including southern Wyoming, western Nebraska, western Kansas and northeastern Colorado. A family-centered obstetrics unit, cardiovascular, oncology, ortho/neuro, Level II trauma, Western States Burn Center and acute inpatient rehabilitation are among the many services offered through the medical center. Nearly 400,000 square feet of new patient care space was added to the northern Colorado region when the NCMC opened an expanded facility in December 2005. Included is the CardioVascular Institute of North Colorado featuring state-of-the-art heart services; expanded birthing center and neonatal care unit, new intensive care units and new surgical suites.
ABOUT BANNER HEALTH
Based in Phoenix, Banner Health is one of the largest, not-for-profit health care systems in the country. Banner has 23 facilities that offer an array of services including hospital care, home care, hospice care, nursing registries, surgery centers, laboratories, rehabilitation services. These facilities are located in seven states – Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, and Wyoming. In addition to emergency and medical services, Banner Health medical centers house a variety of specialized services, including heart care, cancer treatment, delivery of high-order multiple births, organ transplants, bone marrow transplants, rehabilitation services, and behavioral health services.
