ST. PAUL, Minn., June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Regions Hospital and West Side Community Health Services today announced that they have formed a partnership under which Regions Hospital will transfer the assets and operations of Regions Family Physicians Clinic, located on Arcade Street in St. Paul, to West Side Community Health Services (WSCHS).
Regions Family Physicians Clinic provides comprehensive primary care to more than 8,000 patients annually, most of whom face economic, cultural or other barriers to health care. Under the direction of WSCHS, the clinic will become a federally-qualified health center, designed to meet the needs of low-income and culturally diverse patient populations.
Regions Hospital will provide funding to WSCHS to assist with the transfer, which takes effect July 1. All clinic staff and physicians will become WSCHS employees, and WSCHS will assume financial and operational accountability for the clinic. Regions Hospital and the HealthPartners Institute for Medical Education will continue to sponsor the Family and Community Medicine residency program at the clinic, strengthening a teaching affiliation that has been in place with WSCHS since 1993. The clinic’s name will change to the East Side Family Clinic, on the day of the transfer.
“Our partnership will benefit the community,” said Mavis Brehm, executive director of WSCHS. “It will allow us to serve more patients, continue as a site for community-based medical education, and expand services to meet a growing need for affordable health care on St. Paul’s East Side.”
“We’re pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with WSCHS, and continue our collaboration to ensure access to quality health care for all east-metro residents,” said Brock Nelson, president and CEO of Regions Hospital. “This partnership is modeled after other successful partnerships between hospital-based residency programs and community health centers nationally to better serve their communities.”
Regions Hospital and WSCHS (also known as La Clinica) have collaborated on community health issues since 1969, when Ramsey Hospital helped establish the West Side Clinic as a neighborhood clinic. WSCHS serves a large Latino, immigrant and refugee population. In 2004, the clinic served more than 31,000 patients at 20 sites throughout St. Paul.
HealthPartners
HealthPartners is a consumer-governed family of nonprofit health care organizations in Minnesota, focused on improving the health of its members, its patients and the community. HealthPartners and its related organizations staff more than 9,600 employees who provide health care services, insurance, and HMO coverage to more than 650,000 members. The HealthPartners ( http://www.healthpartners.com ) family includes the HealthPartners Medical Group and Clinics, RiverWay Clinics and North Suburban clinics, HealthPartners Central Minnesota Clinics, HealthPartners Dental Group and Clinics, Regions Hospital, Regions Hospital Foundation, HealthPartners Research Foundation, HealthPartners Institute for Medical Education, and Group Health Plan, Inc.
West Side Community Health Services
West Side Community Health Services (WSCHS) provides comprehensive primary care, including preventive services, prenatal care, dental care, acute and chronic illness care, for patients of all ages. WSCHS focuses on serving those with economic, cultural or other barriers to health care and provides services at 20 medical, dental, school-based, and homeless clinic sites throughout St. Paul. Over the past 34 years, WSCHS has developed expertise in serving the needs of Latinos, immigrants, refugees, and adolescents. In 2004, WSCHS served more than 31,000 patients at nearly 107,000 patient visits.
HealthPartners
CONTACT: Joe Dangor of HealthPartners, +1-952-883-5223; or Mavis Brehm ofWest Side CHS, +1-651-602-7536
Web site: http://www.healthpartners.com/