Dive Brief:
- Princeton HealthCare System said Wednesday that it has signed a letter of intent with the University of Pennsylvania Health System to pursue a partnership.
- The move follows a June announcement that PHCS planned to explore partnership opportunities and subsequent consideration of 17 candidates.
- Among the benefits of the collaboration touted by PHCS is Penn’s prowess in health IT.
Dive Insight:
The Northeast is seeking a fair share of window-shopping merger & partnership activity recently. Last week, NYU Langone Medical Center and Winthrop Hospital signed a non-binding letter of intent to create an integrated network. As merger & partnership activity has persisted throughout the year, trends have pointed to systems and companies pairing up with a certain set of skills needed to boost their portfolio.
For PHCS, Penn's skills in health IT looks like a sound partnership. As recently reported, Penn Medicine has implemented a core integrated patient electronic record that is one of multiple systems that feeds its homegrown data warehouse. It's taken years to develop for the 2,000 physicians using the core patient electronic record in conjunction with Penn Data Store. That expertise is something that PHCS is looking for.
“Given Penn Medicine’s expertise in information technology, this partnership will strengthen our efforts to install an integrated EMR necessary to support out population health initiatives,” PHCS President and CEO Barry Rabner said in a release.
The partnership will also give patients in PHCS’ central New Jersey community access to Penn’s world-class medical programs.
“Penn Medicine’s strong financial position and comprehensive scope of services will add to PHCS’ financial security and ability to enhance clinical programs and develop facilities to improve access to care and superior patient quality for the community we serve,”
He added that the board of trustees “showed remarkable foresight” by considering the partnership even as PHCS remained clinically and financially strong on its own.
The two systems now need to hammer out definitive agreements, a process that could take several months. Once that is done, they will need to secure necessary regulatory approval.