WakeMed Health & Hospitals and Surgical Care Affiliates (SCA) have entered into a Letter of Understanding (LOU) under which the two organizations will explore partnership opportunities.
These opportunities may include WakeMed becoming a majority partner in the entity that operates Blue Ridge Surgery Center with SCA continuing to manage the operations. SCA may be engaged to manage the daily operations of WakeMed's outpatient surgery locations. The two organizations also will evaluate the option of working together to grow existing outpatient surgery offerings and develop new projects. The organizations expect to execute definitive agreements by the end of February 2010.
"WakeMed excels at running large inpatient surgery programs, and Surgical Care Affiliates has extensive knowledge of outpatient surgery businesses. We are exploring this partnership to share our specialized expertise in different surgery environments," commented Dr. Bill Atkinson, WakeMed president and CEO. "Increasingly, new technology and advanced procedures are enabling more surgeries to be completed in an outpatient setting. The outpatient surgery model is often more efficient and greatly enhances access and convenience for our patients. We are pleased to be working with the physician partners and SCA on this potential ambulatory care venture in Wake County."
Andrew Hayek, president and CEO of SCA, said, "We are excited about the opportunity to partner with this extraordinary health care system to provide quality, efficient healthcare in the Raleigh community. Together with our physician partners, we can make a tremendous positive impact on the patient experience."
WakeMed currently offers outpatient surgery at three locations including WakeMed North Healthplex, WakeMed Cary Hospital and WakeMed Raleigh Campus. In fiscal year 2009 WakeMed completed 28,053 outpatient surgery procedures. SCA through its partnership with 38 surgeons at the Blue Ridge Surgery Center performed 8,500 outpatient procedures in the last 12 months.
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