Officials with Erlanger Health System and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) announce a strategic affiliation agreement creating a collaborative relationship between the two institutions while Erlanger Health System is also joining the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network.
“Erlanger Health System’s strategic affiliation agreement with VUMC and its membership in the network creates significant strategic opportunities to expand the scope of health care services in the geographic regions served by both organizations,” said Kevin Spiegel, President & CEO of Erlanger Health System. “Our focus will be to enhance cost effective health care, enhance quality and improve patient access to care.”
Through its membership in the network, Erlanger Health System joins other leading hospitals, health systems and physicians across Tennessee in support of the network’s three pillars: cost savings, increased quality and increased access.
A key objective of this network is facilitating greater care coordination, including population health and wellness initiatives. Other goals include establishing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and clinical quality indicators to help drive improvements in outcomes. The network will also utilize health information technology and data sharing to achieve its stated goals.
This strategic affiliation agreement between Erlanger Health System and VUMC provides the ability to form new clinical programs and services to be shared by the two academic health systems. This creates a pathway for the two institutions to formally collaborate on a broad range of health and wellness initiatives and clinical services.
The network is the region’s largest physician-led organization of health care professionals working together to develop solutions to improve health and increase value to patients, providers, employers and other consumers of health care services. Its emphasis is on initiatives that will improve overall health across large populations while reducing per-capita costs for health care delivery.
Its mission is to transform health care delivery across the Mid-South by bringing together clinicians, hospitals, employers and patients in a structure that encourages collaboration to deliver high-quality, cost-effective care.
“The strategic agreement creates the framework for our health systems to develop and advance programs and services that will benefit the citizens we serve, while inclusion of the Erlanger Health System into the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network will contribute significantly to the network’s impact,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, M.D., Deputy Chief Executive Officer for VUMC, CEO of the Vanderbilt Health System and Chairman of the Board for Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network. “I want to welcome our Erlanger colleagues into the network. We look forward to working with them to achieve our shared goal of improving the health and well-being of all Tennesseans.”
While each institution remains free to continue to pursue individual initiatives, the strategic affiliation agreement provides the necessary structure for Erlanger Health System and VUMC to form collaborative relationships that will create a springboard for more efficient, cost-effective patient care through new programs and services.
About Erlanger Health System
The Erlanger Health System is a multi-hospital system with five hospitals in Tennessee: the Baroness Erlanger Medical Center, Children’s Hospital at Erlanger, Erlanger North Hospital and Erlanger East Hospital, all in Chattanooga, and Erlanger Bledsoe Hospital, located in Pikeville, Tennessee. Erlanger is the seventh largest public hospital in the United States and serves more than half a million patients annually.
Erlanger is the region’s only academic medical center, affiliated with the University of Tennessee College of Medicine and serves as the tristate region’s only Level 1 Trauma Center, providing the highest level of trauma care for both adults and children. As an extension of the trauma care program, Erlanger has five LIFE FORCE air ambulances in its fleet, with bases in Cleveland, Sparta and Winchester, Tennessee, and in Blue Ridge and Calhoun, Georgia. The health system has six emergency departments, the region’s only academic Orthopedic Institute and only academic da Vinci robotic urological surgery center.
The Erlanger Southeast Regional Stroke Center, recognized for its world-class stroke and neurosciences program, is one of the four largest interventional stroke programs in the United States.
About the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network
The Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network currently spans a geographic region that includes Tennessee, portions of Kentucky, Eastern Arkansas, Northern Mississippi and the western portion of Virginia, and is currently comprised of 56 hospitals, more than 235 physician practices, approximately 4,000 participating physicians and clinicians, more than 35 urgent care, after-hours and walk-in clinics, and 12 health systems.
These health systems include:
- Baptist Memorial Health Care, Memphis, TN
- Cookeville Regional Medical Center, Cookeville, TN
- Erlanger Health System, Chattanooga, TN
- Jennie Stuart Medical Center, Hopkinsville, KY
- Maury Regional Medical Center, Columbia, TN
- Mountain States Health Alliance, Johnson City, TN
- NorthCrest Medical Center, Springfield, TN
- St. Thomas Midtown, Nashville, TN, & St. Thomas Rutherford, Murfreesboro, TN
- Sumner Regional Medical Center, Gallatin, TN
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
- West Tennessee Healthcare, Jackson, TN
- Williamson Medical Center, Franklin, TN
