Jeff Drop, Catholic Health Initiative’s senior vice president and division executive officer in Fargo, announced the formation of a new healthcare system in central and western North Dakota.
The system will encompass Mercy Medical Center in Williston, CHI St. Joseph’s Health in Dickinson, CHI Carrington Health, CHI Mercy Hospital in Devils Lake, CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck, Garrison, Turtle Lake, Minot, Mandan and Washburn.
Essentially, the hospitals will be rebranding under one name: CHI St. Alexius Health. The result is the formation of the largest health care delivery system in central and western North Dakota, according to a press release.
The decision came amid changes to health care, with more focus on raising quality of care and better outcomes, as well as becoming more efficient.
Hospitals face some “challenging hurdles,” which means they must look to be more efficient, said Tod Graeber, administrator of CHI St. Alexius Health in Garrison and Turtle Lake.
Patients in small, rural communities will directly benefit from the name changes. Such benefits include from a “physical standpoint,” as well as through advances in technology, including telemedicine and televideo, said Kurt Schley, CEO and president of CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck.
“Patients will have access to services in those communities that they maybe not have had in the past,” he said. CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck will be the “tertiary point” of the new system and will provide services and expertise to smaller hospitals.
“CHI St. Alexius Health here (in Bismarck), we are a level two trauma center.… We are making our services, our expertise available to those other facilities.” Change won’t come right away, Schley added, but instead “over time, this will evolve into a very tight-knit, coordinated system focused on quality outcomes.”
The Bismarck Tribune
Blair Emerson Reporting