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In July 2021, UVA Health announced that it had completed the purchase of three community hospitals — Prince William Medical Center, Haymarket Medical Center, and Culpeper Medical Center — along with the Community Health Medical Group (CHMG). Those hospitals and medical group had been part of a joint operating company formed by UVA Health and Novant Health in January 2016. An unprecedented move for UVA Health, the purchase has expanded our enterprise into a system consisting of four-hospitals and two medical groups with a service area that now extends into northern Virginia.

To learn more about the vision and thinking behind this momentous change, we recently spoke with Mary Frances Southerland, Chief Administrative Officer for UVA Health. She has been overseeing the expansion and integration effort and is working in close partnership with Erik Shannon, interim CEO of UVA Community Health. Following is a synopsis of the story behind the story of UVA Health’s expansion. 

What is the vision behind the acquisition of the three community hospitals?

Southerland: Our vision is to become an integrated health system that provides world-class care to patients across the Commonwealth, and we are beginning in the Northern Virginia market. Our expansion also means that patients of our community health providers can continue to receive care locally, while having access to the latest technology, groundbreaking research and clinical trials that we offer in Charlottesville.

Expanding into a multi-hospital system is part of a national trend, correct?

Southerland: Yes, healthcare mergers and acquisitions have been on the rise nationally for the past 15 years as a way of creating operational, strategic, and financial value. Many academic medical centers have expanded their footprints during this time, and UVA Health has watched and learned from their experiences. Strategically, we believe that the time is right for us to grow and enhance the value of our enterprise so more patients across Virginia can benefit from UVA Health quality care. 

How long will it take for the Community Hospitals to be fully integrated into the UVA Health enterprise? 

Southerland: An important lesson that we have learned from studying mergers and acquisitions of other health systems, is that you can’t just expand, you have to integrate key areas. In order to maximize the full value of the expansion and best serve our patients, we must pursue true strategic and operational integration. Toward that end, we are planning a multi-year effort that will progress through several stages:

• Migration: This work involves disconnecting UVA Community Health systems and processes from Novant Health platforms. To allow time for migration to be completed, we have established Transition Service Agreements and Statements of Work with Novant to help us maintain seamless operations through June 30, 2023.  
• Integration: As we migrate UVA Community Health facilities away from Novant, we are building platforms and connecting them to systems that will enable their integration into UVA Health for an enterprise-level offering. The systems include things like a single instance of our Epic EMR platform, centralized physician onboarding and credentialing, supply chain and revenue cycle. 
• Optimization: The goal of this phase will be to enhance synergies between the academic and community offerings of UVA Health and continue to optimize them as processes evolve. With this aim in mind, UVA Community Health is participating in our enterprise-wide One Future Together strategic planning initiative that will span the next ten years. UVA Community Health is focusing on strategic initiatives that best serve their communities while supporting the strategic mission of UVA Health. 

Will the physician groups integrate as well?

Southerland: The University of Virginia Physicians Group and UVA Community Health Medical Group will remain separate entities. This is not unusual when academic health systems acquire community systems, given the nuances between academic and community practice models. However, while they will remain separate entities, we are working closely with our clinical department chairs and community providers to define and develop a coordinated strategy and working relationship. This alignment is best in class for transactions of this nature and is the true hallmark of an integrated health system that delivers seamless patient care across its enterprise. 

Bottom line, how does this expansion and integration benefit UVA Health?

Southerland: As we become a larger, integrated health system, every UVA Health entity (UVA Medical Center, UVA School of Medicine, UVA School of Nursing,  UVA Community Health, both Physician Groups, and the Health Sciences Library) will benefit. By extending our outreach to the many diverse communities across the Commonwealth, we will be increasing our scale and revenue, strengthening our ability to reinvest in our four mission areas — clinical care, research, education, and community — and enabling UVA Health to achieve our goal of  transforming health and inspiring hope for all Virginians and beyond.