Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives and St. Alexius Medical Center in Bismarck, N.D., announced on Feb. 13 that they signed a nonbinding agreement to form a new affiliation.
The two Catholic nonprofits had been in talks about sharing an electronic health record system, but now also will discuss other opportunities to coordinate care and enhance services that might make sense through an affiliation, said Gary Miller, St. Alexius Medical Center president and chief executive. "This is still a work in progress," he noted in mid-March. CHI and St. Alexius already have ties, with some physicians providing care in both CHI and St. Alexius markets in North Dakota. The system and the medical center may work on ways that they can share more specialists and possibly telemedicine solutions, especially in rural areas, Miller said.
St. Alexius and CHI, which operates in 18 states including North Dakota, also collaborate on a reference laboratory; on a dialysis program; and through Northland Healthcare Alliance, a union of several health care providers that offers shared services for its members, both CHI and St. Alexius representatives said. CHI's closest critical access hospital to Bismarck is St. Joseph's Hospital and Health Center in Dickinson, N.D., about 100 miles from St. Alexius' main campus.
If the organizations reach final agreement, the creation of the new affiliation could occur by the end of this year.
St. Alexius is a 306-bed, acute care medical center offering inpatient and outpatient services. These include primary and specialty physician clinics, home health and hospice services and durable medical equipment services. The center, founded in 1885, serves residents of central and western North Dakota, northern South Dakota and eastern Montana. St. Alexius owns and operates hospitals and clinics in the North Dakota communities of Bismarck, Garrison, Turtle Lake, Mandan and Minot, which might be included in the potential affiliation, Miller said. St. Alexius also manages the hospital and clinics owned by Mobridge Regional Hospital in Mobridge, S.D. The proposed affiliation will not include the Mobridge-area facilities, Miller said.
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