Unity HealthCare and Iowa Health System today announced they have signed an agreement for Trinity Regional Health System, the Quad-City based affiliate of Iowa Health System, to provide interim management services for Unity HealthCare.
Unity HealthCare provides a full continuum of health-care services to the Muscatine County region that includes a network of physicians, inpatient and outpatient diagnostic care and treatment, home health, hospice, public health, occupational medicine and substance abuse services.
Under the terms of the six-month agreement, Trinity will provide management support and consulting services to Unity’s senior leadership team that will encompass strategic planning, billing and collections, overall financial operations and regulatory compliance objectives as directed by the Unity Board. The agreement goes into effect May 27, 2008.
"The ever-changing health-care environment presents complex issues for all hospitals, but it places even more challenges on mid-sized, independent organizations such as Unity," said Unity Board Chair John Beckey. "After careful consideration of several alternatives, the board elected to contract with Iowa Health System and Trinity, who share our values and mission of community care."
"Tapping into the expertise of an innovative and strategic health-care organization like Iowa Health System, and the capable leaders at Trinity, enables Unity access to more efficiencies and experience that will allow us to better deliver quality health care to Muscatine and surrounding communities."
As part of the management services agreement, Trinity and Iowa Health System will provide support to the Unity Board of Directors in their leadership recruitment process. Edward R. Maahs has been designated as the interim CEO at Unity HealthCare. Maahs most recently served as interim CEO for Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines and Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa, overseeing hospitals in Cresco and Lake City, Iowa, and Oakland, Neb. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant and interim administrator at various health systems throughout the state of Iowa.
He is a past chairman of the Iowa Hospital Association and serves on the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board, the Governor’s Task Force of Rural Health, the Iowa Leadership Consortium and the Iowa Medical Group Management Association.
Maahs has more than 35 years of career experience in the delivery of quality health services to a large rural area via an integrated delivery network. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, and is a former member of the Iowa Medical Group Management Association and the Healthcare Financial Management Association. He also is a life Fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives.
"Unity is committed to being the primary provider of services to Muscatine and the surrounding region," Beckey added. "By working with Trinity and Iowa Health System, we will be able to ensure the long-term viability of health-care services in this area."
"Trinity welcomes the opportunity to assist Unity HealthCare in this capacity," said Trinity President/CEO Andrea Coleman. "We are happy to help and collaborate with Unity, which is such an essential resource to the Muscatine community."
About Unity HealthCare
Unity HealthCare of Muscatine, Iowa was formed Jan. 1, 1999, with the merger of Muscatine General Hospital, a not-for-profit county hospital, Muscatine Health Center, a for-profit physician clinic and its physicians, and Community Nursing Services, a not-for profit community nursing and home health/public health service.
The unified health system was created by a task force of physicians, community and business leaders, health-care professionals, and other interested parties to ensure the continued local presence of quality primary health care, make recruiting and retention of health care professionals easier, and maintain community focus and governance of the integrated health-care system.
About Trinity Regional Health System
Trinity Regional Health System is a three-campus, non-profit health-care provider headquartered in Rock Island. Its three campuses total 526 licensed beds and employ nearly 3,000 staff. The health-care system is a senior affiliate of Iowa Health System, the largest integrated health-care delivery system in Iowa, serving one out of every four hospitalized patients in the state and employing almost 19,400. Trinity provides regional services in cardiology, including open-heart surgery and interventional cardiology, oncology, obstetrics and gynecology and trauma. More information is available at its Web site: www.trinityqc.com.
About Iowa Health System
Initially formed in 1993, Iowa Health System is an Iowa nonprofit health-care system operating a regional health-care delivery system that includes 11 affiliate hospitals in seven large Iowa communities and Rock Island, Ill., a system of hospitals in 14 rural communities, and more than 70 physician clinics in Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska. Iowa Health System is the state's first and largest integrated health-care system in the Iowa/western Illinois region. More information is available at its Web site: www.ihs.org.