Mercy Integrates with Ozark Orthopaedics of Rogers

Eric Pianalto believes partnership and collaboration are the best ways to react to the evolving health care landscape.

A sign of that philosophy came quietly into view last month.

In another gesture of expanding the reach of its specialties, Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas has integrated with Ozark Orthopaedics of Rogers.

The move was implemented March 1, the day Mercy’s $3.2 million purchase of Ozark’s 13,199-SF clinic on Horsebarn Road officially closed. The new location is now called Mercy Clinic Orthopaedics.

Dr. Tom Patrick Coker, a surgeon who joined Ozark in 1989, signed off on the sale as president of Fayetteville-based Orthopaedic Clinic Ltd. The group bought the land, 1.4 acres, in 2006 and built the facility in 2008.

Pianalto, president of Mercy Hospital NWA, said the integration plan has been in the works for about a year.

“They’ve been very good discussions, obviously, because it resulted in a transaction,” he said.

The six Rogers surgeons who left Ozark to join Mercy’s other 157 integrated providers are: Drs. Cody Grammer, John Mertz, Scott Cooper, Mike Griffey, Gannon Randolph and Jacob Kaler. Julie Slavik, a physician’s assistant, is also now a Mercy provider.

“The ‘why’ was mainly because they wanted to participate in our model of care,” Pianalto explained. “They have always and will continue to have a great respect for their fellow members of Ozark Orthopaedic Clinic. It was a good transition.”

The former Ozark surgeons — who were self-employed — now have employment agreements with Mercy NWA, and all of the non-physician personnel are Mercy employees.

“The seven of us have worked as a strong team supporting Mercy for many years,” Kaler said. “This just takes efforts to a whole new level.”

The sale of the Rogers location leaves Ozark — founded in 1948 — with three remaining clinics in Fayetteville, Siloam Springs and Eureka Springs.

Coker said it was too early to discuss what might be next as it relates to Ozark moving forward, and if the group will try to maintain a brick-and-mortar presence in Benton County.

“It’s been such a long process to get this done right, up to this point, now you’ve got to shift gears and your thinking,” he said. “Obviously, you’re going to think a little something like [what’s next], but we’re still very early on [deciding] where we go from here.”

 

Patient Value

The integration is but another part of Mercy’s aggressive expansion programs.

Reflective of the area’s growing health care needs, Mercy has either broken ground on or opened four new facilities in the last nine months, all of them in Benton County.

The most recent groundbreaking was April 9 for a facility on North Second Street in downtown Rogers.

Construction is ongoing at the hospital to increase capacity and improve flow in the emergency department, and Pianalto said, “We’ve got a few more things in the works that we aren’t quite ready to talk about.”

The integration with Ozark is also another piece of Mercy’s effort to create a patient-centered health care model.

Pianalto said the hospital’s vision is to bring patients access to their orthopaedic care needs in a singular location.

“Today, as you look at orthopaedic care, if somebody comes [to Mercy] for a joint replacement, they could potentially end up going to five different places in Northwest Arkansas and get five different bills,” he said. “All the parts are very much segmented. This allows us to get a more central focus — which for us is the patient — and makes it as seamless as we possibly can.”

Another important benefit, Pianalto said, is more comprehensive patient care. The seven orthopaedic providers are now all connected to Mercy’s electronic health records system, giving them complete access to patients’ records and all of their health conditions.

“This just adds to the continuity of care that makes it easier for patients,” Pianalto said.

The business benefit is that Mercy can align its incentives around cost and allow for more streamlined processes. For example, negotiating with vendors for orthopaedic supplies is now a shared effort.

“Ultimately, it helps us as a business, but it also helps us deliver on the value of health care to those who pay the bills, patients or employers.

“It can allow us to maintain a margin in the service while reducing the cost.”

 

A Cultural Connection

Pianalto said the first question asked during any initial talk of hospital-physician group integration deals is about the separate cultures of the entities.

Before moving forward, being intentional about discovering possible deal-breakers and other key issues were identified before getting too far down the road.

“That was absolutely essential,” Pianalto said. “We’ve found, over time, that if the cultures don’t match, we don’t produce the results we’d hoped for.”

A hospital-physician integration has the potential to strain or harm medical staff relationships.

In the Mercy-Ozark case, obviously, the two philosophies were amenable.

“We have very similar beliefs about how care should be provided,” Pianalto said.

A planning committee was also essential to the success of the integration moving forward.

Pianalto and Dr. Steve Goss led the integration and transaction discussions with all six physicians. Goss is president and physician executive for Mercy NWA clinics and leads more than 100 multi-specialty physicians across 27 clinic locations.

Steve Hughes and Brenda Stewart from Mercy and Tracy Davenport from Ozark led all of the transition activity.

“We’ve been through an extensive process in assuring this integration would result in streamlined talents and resources to improve orthopaedic patient experiences,” Kaler said.

 

Joint Care Boost

The integration will also be a boon for Mercy’s Joint Replacement Center — a 12-room branch inside the 200-bed Mercy Hospital — which has already positioned itself as a leading provider of joint care in Arkansas.

The JRC was created in January 2012, and just a few months later earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for its hip and knee replacement programs, a certification that speaks volumes in the health care industry.

It also made Mercy the only facility in Northwest Arkansas and one of two hospitals in the state of Arkansas to meet national health care quality standards.

That accreditation came in partnership with Drs. Grammer, Mertz, Cooper, Griffey and Kaler, who worked closely with Mercy to develop the JRC.

“Continuing to develop that total joint program will be a benefit of the integration,” said Mercy NWA spokeswoman Jessica Eldred.

But perhaps even greater is the potential for the integration to further enhance a sports medicine program.

Pianalto said as the population ages and sports medicine evolves, there is and will continue to be a greater need for orthopaedic care.

Care, Pianalto said, that is more complete.

“Most sports medicine programs today are focused on after the injury,” Pianalto said. “What our hope would be is that, over time, we could focus on trying to prevent injury. Then, if there is an injury, to be able to have very coordinated care, rather than just orthopaedics in one spot, physical therapy in one spot, training in another area.

“Our focus in putting a program together will be on prevention,” he continued. “We don’t get paid to do prevention, but we think it’s the right thing to do.”