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Independent health care facilities are facing challenges, especially financial ones. Many are at risk of being taken over or closed.

The leadership of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health of Tacoma, Washington, believes these independent hospitals and clinics serve a vital and essential role in their communities, and so that health system is offering services that can bolster and stabilize those facilities.

The health system, part of CommonSpirit Health, has established a subsidiary called the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Care Network. The network offers consultation, mentoring, peer-to-peer guidance, interim executive and leader placement, access to group purchasing arrangements, access to telehealth and virtual care platforms, and other resources.

"We have benefits that we can scale and extend to others so that they can be stronger," says Tom Kruse, chief strategy officer of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health.

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health was formed in 2021 when CHI Franciscan and Virginia Mason health systems combined. Ketul Patel, CEO of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and president of CommonSpirit Health's northwest region, says that since the merger, the 10-hospital system has gained a reputation for quality and innovation, and that reputation spurred many independent facilities to turn to Virginia Mason Franciscan Health for guidance and support.

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health already had forged various types of consultancies and similar relationships with independent facilities in its region when leadership decided to standardize the services and make them available on a much broader scale. Currently, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health offers the services to about a dozen health care providers.

Now, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is offering those services and more under the Care Network umbrella. Kruse says the system is providing the services at cost and not looking to make a profit. The clients can choose from among multiple services, which are provided by Virginia Mason Franciscan Health staff. Except for the executive director and select support staff, none of the employees of the Care Network will be exclusively working with that division, at least not at the outset.

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health will not own nor operate the partners and affiliates that will be its clients in the Care Network. But Virginia Mason Franciscan Health will give those clients access to its resources, which will enable those clients to benefit from the expertise on Virginia Mason Franciscan Health's staff, its technology platforms and the economies of scale it has built. The clients also will get access to the knowledge repository of Virginia Mason Franciscan's clinical network and to the research capabilities of the system and network with one another.

Patel foresees this having a lasting impact on the communities the network will serve. Rural and independent facilities in Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Montana can be clients of the Care Network.

Protective partner
According to a press release from Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, independent hospitals fill a critical gap for their communities, yet they are more vulnerable to the challenges of today's health care landscape than other providers. This is especially true of rural, independent facilities. The release cites the American Hospital Association, which said 71% of hospital closures from 2017 to 2023 were rural.

Kruse says it is important to Virginia Mason Franciscan Health to help rural facilities remain independent because when they are vulnerable to closure, their leadership often feels compelled to accept acquisition bids by much-larger providers. Some systems that take over small facilities reduce health care services and access at those facilities, and that can be bad for the community.

Kruse notes that many rural hospitals are subsidized by their community but are too financially strained to afford the technology and other resources needed to strengthen and build up their capabilities.

Getting access to such resources through the Care Network can help reduce these facilities' vulnerability to market pressures, says Kruse. "Our strategy is to help providers bridge that gap," he says, "creating a strong, networked community with world-class clinical collaboration so we can collectively support each other while also better serving those who depend on us for care."