Athens Regional an 'important piece of the puzzle on this side of the state'

If hospitals were airports, Athens Regional Medical Center wouldn't be Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International - but it wouldn't be too far off, in both stature and distance.

And those two elements are of key importance as the hospital begins the process of looking to partner with another hospital, health system or healthcare organization. One aspect of the news is what a partnership means to the community and how that would affect Athens Regional as it is today.

"It's really interesting the way some people describe us," said Dr. Charles A. Peck, president and CEO of Athens Regional Health System. "In these partnerships there's a lot of discussion about hub and spoke. The big party that's looking at the small party, they're the hub and then they say 'well you're a spoke in our hub.' The way people talk about us - we're not a spoke, we're a secondary hub."

One of the largest healthcare systems in northeast Georgia and employing more than 3,000 people, Athens Regional Health System finds itself in an envious position geographically. Where healthcare systems in Atlanta have "pretty much consolidated itself," as Peck noted, Athens Regional's distance from the Atlanta area gives it an advantage for those systems looking for additional partners.

"I think we're viewed as a very important piece of the puzzle on this side of the state," Peck said. "If you're a system in Atlanta, there's really three of four systems. The only consolidation to get bigger in Atlanta is for one big system to merge with another, and we see that doesn't necessarily always work. The only place those systems can really look for growth is outside of Atlanta. So some of them are going south and some are coming out in our direction, and so I think we're going to be an attractive potential partner for somebody."

Just this week U.S. News and World Report ranked Athens Regional the 10th best hospital in Georgia.

The systems in the Atlanta area include Emory Healthcare (more than 15,000 employees), Grady Health System (more than 6,000), Piedmont Healthcare (more than 6,000) and WellStar Health System (more than 12,000). To Peck's previous point, WellStar, a Marietta-based system, began discussions earlier this year with the possibility of pairing with Emory. But last month WellStar's Board of Trustees stopped talks and "has determined a new strategic direction."

Healthcare systems are certainly looking for new partnerships.

"I think the big systems recognize that they're not ever going to get folks to drive on [Interstate] 85 in the middle of rush hour to come down for an appointment or a hospital," Peck said. "They're looking for ways to have people get access to them without having to come to them by having partners like us where they don't have to sit and worry about what the outcome or quality of the care is going to be."

An aspect of a partnership that benefits the community is the medical talent it can bring to the Athens area. The residency program slated to start at ARMC next year gives the hospital added visibility among young doctors, and Peck noted the move his organization is looking to make attracts the eyes of more experienced doctors as well.

"All of the smartest doctors coming out of training now they all want to go to the kind of place we're trying to become in this process," Peck said. "Our goal is to take care of this community in the best way we can with the best quality doctors and if we can be that organization - be strong, be stable, be the highest quality, be in the top 10 percent - those best doctors are going to come here."

Another step in the process is finding the right model of partnership, variations which run the gamut. According to The Advisory Board Company, a research and consulting firm, models include:

•Clinical affiliations, where organizations collaborate on an initiative or provide a specific service together;

•Regional collaborative, a structure for partnering on specific initiatives and building future integration; often encompassing independent organizations in a geographic area;

•Accountable care organization, where an independent entity is formed for entering into risk-based contracts; owned by constituent organizations, creating shared accountability among participating providers;

•Clinically integrated hospital network, a collection of hospitals that enter into joint payer contracts to improve care coordination and clinical outcomes; and

•Acquisition, a formal purchase of one organization's assets by another.

While Peck has some ideas what the model might be, it's still too early to talk about in detail.

"I think the model will probably be one of the last things that's determined," Peck said. "But I think an on-the-block sort of a sale mentality, that's not in the cards. This is really going to be an affiliation or partnership - so what are those sort of models.

There's joint ventures where the two parties get together and form a new company and kind of run the business in a new company, there's operating or management agreements where the partners collaborate together on service lines like cardiology or surgery. There's lease back options so the county commissioners and the taxpayers continue to own all the facilities and everything else but the partner leases and puts money in that way, so I think there's a range of options."

There are still several phases left to follow in the process, but hospital officials are taking care to ensure it falls in line with what the community wants.

"

If you've been in Athens long enough, you understand that average person walking along the street feels like they own part of Athens Regional; it's part of our community," said Dr. Robert Sinyard Jr., cardiologist and vice president of medical affairs at Athens Regional. "It's like UGA. And so the obligation and the responsibility is to make sure that we're doing the right thing not just for the board of Athens Regional, not just for the doctors or the nurses, but for the whole community."