Ascension Wisconsin and Emerus Holdings announce partnership to expand access to healthcare in Wisconsin

GLENDALE, Wis. and THE WOODLANDS, Texas, /PRNewswire/ -- Ascension Wisconsin, part of Ascension, the nation's leading nonprofit and Catholic healthcare system, and Emerus Holdings Inc., the nation's first and largest operator of neighborhood hospitals, today announced a new partnership. Under a joint venture operating agreement with Ascension Wisconsin, Emerus will build and operate several small-scale hospitals, also known as micro-hospitals, that will enable consumers to have significantly improved access to high-quality healthcare. These hospitals are expected to open in late 2020 or early 2021.

Emerus' growing list of health system partners across the nation has now reached 10, with 24 existing facilities and more than 20 additional hospitals under development throughout the country.

"As Ascension Wisconsin continues to grow, our priority is to make healthcare easier to access and more convenient for consumers," explained Bernie Sherry, Senior Vice President, Ascension Healthcare and Ministry Market Executive, Ascension Wisconsin. "This model provides an innovative way to integrate inpatient and outpatient services while keeping care close to home. This will be our focus as we increase our presence in the communities we are privileged to serve."

"We are honored to partner with Ascension Wisconsin, as it expands its footprint in Wisconsin," said Craig Goguen, CEO of Emerus. "Ascension Wisconsin is committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to people living in poverty and those most vulnerable. That is perfectly aligned with our vision and is a key reason why Emerus is excited about this new partnership."

Each of the new hospitals is expected to be part of larger health complex that will contain a combination of primary care, specialty care, freestanding imaging and/or outpatient surgery. The new hospitals will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They will be staffed by physicians who are experts in emergency medicine and have training to manage life-threatening and serious conditions, experienced nurses and other clinical specialists dedicated to providing the same level of compassionate, patient-focused care found at Ascension Wisconsin and Emerus' existing hospital locations. The facilities will be fully licensed, CMS-accredited and in-network with most commercial providers.

About Ascension Wisconsin
Ascension Wisconsin (ascension.org/wisconsin) operates 24 hospital campuses, more than 100 related healthcare facilities and employs more than 1,300 primary and specialty care clinicians from Racine to Eagle River. Serving Wisconsin since 1848, Ascension is a faith-based healthcare organization committed to delivering compassionate, personalized care to all, with special attention to persons living in poverty and those most vulnerable. As such, Ascension Wisconsin provided more than $292 million in community benefit, including care of persons living in poverty in Fiscal Year 2018. Ascension is the largest non-profit health system in the U.S. and the world's largest Catholic health system, operating 2,600 sites of care – including 151 hospitals and more than 50 senior living facilities – in 21 states and the District of Columbia.

About Emerus
Emerus is the nation's first and largest operator of micro-hospitals, also known as neighborhood hospitals. Emerus partners with leading health systems to provide excellence, empathy and innovation in health care delivery through a network of efficient, value-based micro-hospitals. The Emerus network brings high-quality, patient-centric acute episodic and ambulatory clinical services to communities across a given market. This helps patients by positioning best-in-class provider services in the communities where they work, live and play. Emerus' distinctive level of care earned the Guardian of Excellence Award for Superior Patient Experience in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. More information is available at www.emerus.com.

Media Contacts:
Caryn Kaufman, Ascension Wisconsin
O: (414) 465-3005 / C: (646) 765-6006

Richard Bonnin, Emerus Holdings
richard.bonnin@emerus.com/281-840-9820

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SOURCE Emerus