- Indiana: Allen County officials said they are extending the county's needle exchange program for two more years. According to the Associated Press, officials made the announcement after hearing about statistics showing that there have been 65 drug overdoses during the first seven months of this year, compared with 45 the year before, and that there have been more than 800 nonfatal overdoses, compared with 740 last year. Officials said the needle exchange program currently serves about 140 clients (AP/Sacramento Bee, 9/23).
- Mississippi: Mississippi State University and Delta Health Alliance are partnering to help up to 400 low-income students pay for college. The partnership will show low-income students how to open a savings account for educational expenses and then match $4 for every $1 students deposit into their accounts, providing each participant up to $2,500 toward his or her education (AP/Sacramento Bee, 9/24).
- New Jersey: East Orange General Hospital has named Paige Dworak as its permanent CEO. Dworak, who had been serving as the interim CEO before the announcement, previously worked as COO at the hospital. She had also worked previously as VP of operations for Waterbury Hospital and Eastern Connecticut Health Network. Dworak is also a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, serving as president of the group's New York chapter (Vaidya, Becker's Hospital Review, 9/22).
There's more than just M&A—get the cheat sheet for hospital partnership and affiliation models
Behind the flurry of M&A in recent years, a deeper trend of hospital integration is underway: the emergence of alternative partnerships that secure many of the same benefits of M&A without the financial and legal commitment: Clinical affiliation, regional collaborative, accountable care organization, and clinically integrated network.
This guide defines these types of partnerships and offers benefits, drawbacks, and examples of organizations in each.