Summit Health now part of regional health care system

CHAMBERSBURG - Summit Health, the county's biggest health care provider and largest employer, is officially part of regional health care system WellSpan Health. 

The affiliation between the two nonprofit organizations became official Thursday, Nov. 1, seven months after the agreement was announced. 

The organizations say their affiliation "enhances community-based health care across central Pennsylvania and within Franklin County and its surrounding communities," according to a news release. 

Summit employees are now among 19,000 workers and 1,500 physicians and advanced practice clinicians in WellSpan. Summit brought on 44 new providers in the 2018 fiscal year alone. With around 3,500 employees, it surpassed Letterkenny Army Depot as the county's largest employer in early 2017, according to data from the Franklin County Area Development Corp.

Chambersburg and Waynesboro hospitals and Summit's many other patient care locations now fall under the WellSpan umbrella, and over the next few months all will take on the Wellspan name, said Summit CEO Pat O'Donnell. Together with Summit, WellSpan has 170 patient care locations, including eight hospitals. York and Gettysburg hospitals are both WellSpan facilities. 

The affiliation formalizes the collaborative relationship WellSpan and Summit have had for many years, said WellSpan CEO Dr. Kevin Mosser. 

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WellSpan and Summit have worked together to bring radiation oncology, neurology, tele-stroke and perinatology services to Franklin County, in addition to their partnership in a regional reference laboratory and a behavioral health managed care organization.

“By joining together, we now have the ability to leverage the best of both organizations to further enhance care locally and across the entire region,” Mosser said.

Mosser told Public Opinion WellSpan wants to combine its brand with the "strong legacy" brand Summit has built in the area. 

All Summit facilities will continue operating as normal, and the plan to open a medical facility in Greencastle next summer is still on. O'Donnell said the hope is to actually expand the services available. WellSpan's history of investing in the community was attractive to Summit. 

"We're really optimistic that we'll be able to bring additional and a larger breadth of services to the area for our patients," O'Donnell said. 

But, there could be some consolidation

However, consolidation may take place at the administrative level for the sake of efficiency, O'Donnell said. At the same time, officials have yet to discuss the potential for job losses, he added. WellSpan's hope is to employ even more people in the county, something the organization has successfully done in other markets, Mosser said.

"We’re going to focus on being an efficient, value-based system for our patients, for our employers, for our payers and do that in a pretty methodical manner," O'Donnell said. 

O’Donnell will be a member of WellSpan Health’s executive management team and will continue to lead services in Franklin County.

Summit Health will continue to be governed by a local board of directors, which will have a formal relationship with the WellSpan Health board of directors. Four members of the Summit Health board – Philip Fague, R. William Happel, Nancy Meyers and Cheryl Plummer – will join the WellSpan Health board.

“The completion of this affiliation marks the beginning of a bright future for health care in Franklin County,” O’Donnell said. “We are thrilled to join WellSpan Health, and to share with our community enhanced services.”

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Goals focus on strengthening

Together, WellSpan and Summit Health said they will pursue the following goals:

• Strengthen a model of care that is based on an individual’s relationship with a primary care physician and coordinates all the care an individual requires across the lifespan.
• Provide an opportunity to share best practices in quality improvement, care redesign, chronic disease management and patient experience.
• Build upon Summit Health’s strong reputation as a provider of high-quality, local clinical care and a trusted nonprofit community partner.
• Train and recruit more physicians, advanced practice clinicians, nurses and other essential care providers to Franklin County and surrounding communities, in order to address a projected shortage of physicians and health care professionals.
• Invest in new services, facilities and technology for the long-term health of residents in Franklin County and surrounding communities.
• Support Summit Health’s passionate commitment to the physical and economic health of Franklin County and surrounding communities.
• Provide enhanced opportunities for effective population health management and value-based contracting to meet the needs of patients and payors.

More to know

Health care and insurance go hand-in-hand. Summit Health patients' insurance plans will continue to cover services as normal. However, that could change later; the organizations have not been able to exchange information and tackle this yet due to them being competitors, O'Donnell said. 

Patients should also not expect additional paperwork due to the affiliation. Summit and WellSpan will one day operate under the same patient information system, but it will be another 1.5 to 2 years before that can be carried out, Mosser said. 

WellSpan is preparing to launch EPIC, a patient records system that allows all system users to share data with one another. The system is expected to launch in the fall of 2020. 

O'Donnell and Mosser said they hope cost savings the result from their organization's new formal relationship.