Emerus' joint venture agreements strengthen its position as partner of choice to leading health systems across nation

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Sep 07, 2016, 02:06 ET

HOUSTON, Sept. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Emerus, the nation's first and largest operator of micro-hospitals, is the partner of choice to leading health systems across the nation. Its model of capital-efficient health care facilities combines patient empathy and operational efficiencies with clinical excellence to deliver health care innovations.

The fast-growing company has incorporated a new paradigm into patient care that has significantly improved access to health care for thousands of people, many of whom live in underserved areas where high quality, patient-centric, acute episodic and ambulatory clinical services are needed most.

"Our joint venture agreements allow us to provide a better patient experience by bringing together the brand and regional reputation of the nation's leading health systems with our proven expertise in managing costs and furthering the continuum of care," said Dr. Toby Hamilton, CEO of Emerus.

"We offer an industry-leading comprehensive, integrated health care delivery system by incorporating advances in medical technology with emergency medicine to help respond to emergency visits faster, and shorten inpatient stays," he said.

The company already has joint venture agreements in place with award-winning health systems such as Baptist Health System, Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican, BaylorScott&White, SCL Health, The Hospitals of Providence and Trinity Mother Frances, with more planned across the nation. Through these partnerships, Emerus designs and builds micro-hospitals closer to patients' homes to put more care and best-in-class provider services into the communities they serve.

The Emerus concept has created an escalating industry trend, as leading health systems choose to partner with Emerus, in part, because its micro-hospitals serve as ideal entry points into markets where demand would not support a full-scale hospital.

"As we talk with health systems across the country, we continue to hear of their need to fill access gaps and expand their network of branded clinical services into the communities they serve, while also being disciplined with the deployment of capital," said Scott Mackesy, co-head of health care industry investments for Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe – a leading health care investment firm that made a significant strategic investment in Emerus in 2015.

"We believe Emerus is a natural and experienced partner and solution for these systems – they are extremely strong operationally, clinically and financially," Mackesy said.

These 24/7, small-scale, fully licensed inpatient facilities range from 15,000 to 50,000 square feet. They house between eight and 10 inpatient beds for observation and short-stay use, a similar number of emergency treatment and triage rooms, along with primary and specialty care physicians and other outpatient clinical services co-located in the same building as the micro-hospital. Each facility is organized around the patient and family, serving a large portion of the health and wellness needs closer to home.

The Emerus concept includes a commitment to serving patients in the right way, at the right time and in the right place – the first time. This allows Emerus and its partners to work with patients across the care continuum, while they are healthy to keep them healthy, providing a level of compassionate care and support typically not found at larger hospitals or urgent care centers.

Among the features of Emerus micro-hospitals:

Integrated into the health system — allowing for care coordination, consultation and seamless transition across the care continuum, including activating cardiac and neuro teams from our local locations
Inpatient bed capacity — allowing patients to stay closer to home when admissions/recoveries are needed
Primary care physicians and other outpatient ambulatory clinical services on site — ensuring that patients get to the right place the first time
Accept all patients without regard to insurance or ability to pay, including Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare
Fully licensed as a hospital and subject to all hospital conditions of participation and regulatory requirements
In-network facilities
Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week

"We are not only striving to improve access to health care, we are expanding to respond to the need for care in areas where health care services are lacking and where patients experience long wait times before receiving care," Hamilton said.

Emerus already operates 18 micro-hospitals across the nation, with more than 20 additional locations currently under development in new and existing markets to respond to the growing need.

"By partnering with leading health system brands, patients know they will receive premier medical care from doctors and staff they can trust, right in their own communities," Hamilton said.

ABOUT EMERUS
Emerus is the nation's first and largest operator of micro-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. Based in The Woodlands, Texas, Emerus' distinctive level of care earned the Guardian of Excellence Award for Superior Patient Experience in 2013, 2014 and 2015. More information is available at www.emerus.com.

CONTACT:
Richard Bonnin, 713-637-1261
[email protected]

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SOURCE Emerus