Good Samaritan Health System joins WellSpan after a year of talks
Photo by Jeremy Long, Lebanon Daily News
The Good Samaritan Hospital pictured on October 17, 2014.
(Lebanon) — The Good Samaritan Health System officially will become a part of WellSpan Health July 1, the Lebanon hospital announced Tuesday.
The affiliation comes after close to a year of talks between boards of directors and senior leaders as well as approval by state and federal regulatory agencies, according to Robert J. Longo, president and CEO of Good Samaritan Health System, and Kevin Mosser, president and CEO of WellSpan Health.
“We are delighted to be joining WellSpan Health,” Longo said in a news release sent out Tuesday. “Our board was very deliberate about working to select a partner that shared our mission, vision and values. In WellSpan, we have a partner who will help us to continue to provide exceptional care in our community and also has the strength and expertise to navigate the many changes expected in this era of change.”
GSH officially announced it would be seeking an affiliation partner a year and a half ago, a process, that according to William H. Mulligan Vice President, Strategic Planning & Marketing GSH, has been in the making for over 2 years, starting with the initial look at healthcare reform and what was needed in a local market.
“We explored conversations with a number of organizations. Ultimately it was decided that WellSpan was the partner that had the best overall plan and also reflected the values that GSH has, Mulligan said. “In December we submitted merger plans to state regulators for review, and we received those approvals this month.”
A large joint goal considered was the transition from current care models to the new requirements for managing population health and wellness. “Under health care reform, we are moving away from a system that primarily treats those who are sick and injured to one in which we actively work to manage the health populations,” Mosser said in the release. “Partnering with (GSH) will help us in our efforts to achieve the scale and efficiencies needed to prepare our organization.”
“What happens now is health care providers wait till someone is sick or injured and then fix the problem,” Mulligan said. “Under population health we can try to collaborate to identify health issues early so we can treat people at the early stages when it is easier to do so. This way people can enjoy a better quality of life at what would be a reduced cost.”
That reduced cost was a major factor. The support systems that are needed to make population health effective are better managed by a larger organization and economically it makes more sense, according to Mulligan, allowing the hospital to maintain high standards of program.
As far as changes coming to GSH, Mulligan doesn’t see any in the near future.
“In the near term, I don’t think that patients will notice any immediate changes. However, over time we believe that there will be increased access to a variety of health services in Lebanon County.”
GSH will continue to be governed by a local board of directors. The board will include members of the community as well as representatives from WellSpan. Longo will remain president of GSH and will join WellSpan’s senior management team as a senior vice president.
WellSpan health is a regional nonprofit health care organization that currently serves Ephrata, York and Gettysburg within Central Pennsylvania.
Pediatric nurses Nicole Brandt, left, and Marie Nuzzolillo, review paper work at the Good Samaritan Hospital recently. Good Samaritan Health System officially will become a part of WellSpan Health July 1. Photo by Lebanon Daily News.
This article comes to us through a partnership between Lebanon Daily News and WITF.
A note of disclosure: WellSpan is an underwriter this website.
