Community Corner
Providence Health and Swedish Announce Alliance
Renton-based Providence Health & Services plans to join Seattle-based Swedish Health Services in an alliance to improve health-care quality, access and affordability.
Renton-based Providence Health & Services and Seattle-based Swedish Health Services say they will enter a not-for-profit affiliation designed to improve health-care quality, access and affordability for the residents of Western Washington.
Working together, Providence and Swedish plan to reduce costs “by better organizing how care is delivered,” they stated in a news release. More efficient delivery of care and approaches to chronic disease management will “make health care more affordable for government payers, commercial insurers, employers and patients,” the statement read.
Specifically how those efficiencies will be gained has not been spelled out. Providence will have a media briefing this afternoon, when more specifics may be available.
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Regulatory approval of the agreement is expected to take some time. Until then, the two groups will remain separate. Under the affiliation plan, the two organizations will maintain their individual identities. Providence will remain a Catholic organization, while Swedish will remain non-religious.
Their operating area will include all of Swedish’s operations in King, Snohomish and Kittitas counties and all of Providence’s operations in King, Snohomish, Thurston and Lewis counties.
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“We had to think beyond merger or acquisition to accomplish this, and this affiliation is really the best of both worlds. The shared knowledge and capabilities of Providence and Swedish will benefit our communities for many, many years to come,” Dr. John Koster, Providence Health & Services president and CEO, said in the news release.
Swedish opened a in Redmond late last year.
One benefit of the affiliation will be a common electronic health record that will connect Providence and Swedish hospitals, outpatient centers and doctors’ offices throughout Western Washington. In addition, by sharing resources, both organizations can make it easier to access health care across the entire range of services—from primary care, specialized care, research and hospice and long-term care.
