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Dear UVA Health Community,

Later this morning, UVA Health and Centra, a Lynchburg-based health system, are announcing a strategic clinical affiliation that will increase access close to home for patients in Lynchburg and Southside Virginia to the highly specialized services and innovative treatments we provide. While this clinical affiliation will allow Centra and UVA Health to work more closely and efficiently, it will not financially or structurally tie the organizations together. 

We will work together with Centra in several areas, including;  

• Malignant hematology (disorders of blood cells): UVA Health malignant hematology experts will hold regular clinics at Centra’s Alan B. Pearson Regional Cancer Center to consult with patients and local medical oncologists.   This strategic collaboration will offer UVA Health's comprehensive expertise and services in hematologic malignancies (lymphoma, leukemia, multiple myeloma and related cancers of the blood) and access to cutting edge clinical trials of the most promising new therapeutics, accelerating the time to transplant for eligible candidates while reducing patient travel requirements by offering initial consultations and post-treatment care closer to patients’ homes.
• Kidney transplant: UVA Health transplant specialists will hold clinics in Lynchburg to evaluate patients for kidney transplants. These clinics will be supported by a local nurse navigator, who will coordinate related services locally with Centra providers before transplantation and facilitate transfer of care back to local Lynchburg nephrologists’ post-transplant. Our goal is to reduce the time patients spend on the transplant waitlist as well as provide expert care where and when patients need it.
• UVA Health and Centra are also collaborating to recruit additional specialist physicians with the goal of providing more specialized care to patients within the Centra geography. These physicians as well as other physician teams from both health systems will collaborate on site as well as telemedicine to enhance overall patient care.

This affiliation will build on existing partnerships in place that have demonstrated success in providing comprehensive and exceptional patient care throughout central Virginia. We already collaborate with Centra in areas that include high-risk pregnancies, gynecology-oncology, telestroke, and dialysis. 

As an academic health system serving the Commonwealth, a cornerstone of our mission is ensuring patients throughout Virginia have access to the highly specialized tertiary and quaternary care that you provide with such skill and dedication every day. This new affiliation, and the excellent care you provide, will help us better serve Virginia. 

A centralized oversight committee, composed of leaders from both health systems, has been formed to oversee this continued partnership. We look forward to working with Centra to explore innovative and creative ways to further collaborate with their physicians and caregivers to best serve patients throughout the region.

With gratitude,

K. Craig Kent, MD
Chief Executive Officer, UVA Health
Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, University of Virginia