Quality Commitments

• Implement a common clinical IT platform for better patient care coordination.
• Enhanced reporting on quality and patient satisfaction metrics to ensure transparency and monitoring.

Pricing Commitments

• Limit price increases in negotiations with health insurers for 7 years, in addition to the limitations on price increases in the COPA statute.
• Implement Union Hospital prices for all services immediately, which will result in an immediate reduction in charges for health care services provided to the community.

Preservation of Access Commitments

• Maintain inpatient acute care services at both facilities.
• Maintain emergency rooms at both facilities.
• Maintain an ICU at Union Hospital and increase the number of ICU beds from 24 to 36 in three years.
• Maintain at least a Level III trauma program and a Level III NICU at Union Hospital.
• If a change would adversely impact health outcomes, state approval will be required before Union can change the following services:
  • Cardiology, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, Oncology, Orthopedics, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Pediatrics, Pulmonology, Trauma, and Urology.

Enhancement Commitments

• Invest at least $30 million in Regional Hospital facilities and $75 million in Union Hospital facilities over the next five years.
• Invest $5 million to improve access to oncology treatment technology.
• Recruit new primary care providers with a goal of hiring at least 15 new providers in the first five years.
• Recruit new specialty providers with a goal of hiring at least 21 new specialty providers in the first five years.
• Increase access to needed services through the addition of at least 20 new behavioral health inpatient beds in the first five years.
• Increase access to After-Hours Nurse Access Programs, Preventive Care Screenings (for adults and children) and Care Management Services.

Employment and Economic Impact Commitments

• Protect nearly 700 healthcare jobs at risk due to Regional Hospital’s uncertain future.
• Offer employment to all affected employees with equivalent or better salary and hourly wages and honoring full credit for PTO balances.
• Conduct annual employee and physician satisfaction surveys to improve retention.

Population Health Commitments

• Expand Union’s Health Equity Plan and Population Health Improvement Plan to cover all patients.
• Address community needs:
  • Provide at least 12 pop-up clinics for the homeless population each year
  • Establish a food access point to reduce food insecurity and ER visits
  • Establish a research study to evaluate the impacts of the COPA on the community’s health

Other Commitments

• Expand Union’s Financial Assistance Policy to all patients.
• Reinvest cost savings from the merger into community health initiatives.
• Invest at least $6.9 million in Graduate Medical Education to develop future health care professionals.

Our Commitment to Quality

Through the proposed quality commitments, the combined health system seeks to improve the level of care we provide for all patients across our service area.

Quality with the COPA

• Providers will have immediate access to patient records across the combined health system through the implementation of a common clinical IT platform
• Patients and Providers will benefit from new tools for care coordination and population health improvement
• Commitment to publicly report on 58 quality measures for all patients
• Commitment to publicly report on 14 patient satisfaction measures for all patients