A new, statewide medical system has been created with an official partnership between Michigan Medicine and Sparrow Health System. It was approved by regulators and went into effect this past weekend.
For the Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan Health, it means the local health care system expands from 80 to more than 200 care sites across the state and has grown to be a $7 billion organization.
Michigan Medicine’s CEO Dr. Marschall S. Runge said in a press conference this move creates a statewide network of top-line health care procedures.
Sparrow CEOJames Dover, meanwhile, said the Lansing-based hospital system expects to see immediate impact from the partnership.
"I think, within the first 100 days, we’ll see expansion first in plastic surgery. Our goal is, we want to treat complex cancer patients, like head and neck, breast cancer, as well as complicated reconstructive surgeries."
Dover says their number two priority with the merger will be in adding anesthesiologists. He says the Sparrow region has had difficulties recruiting anesthesiologists and has had to shut down a couple operating rooms recently as a result.
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