By Michael Harrison
Medical Center Public Relations
The Medical Center and Oakwood Health Services Corp. have signed a letter of intent to develop affiliations that will help both organizations meet their educational and patient care objectives.
The letter calls for discussions toward agreements on affiliations that will en-hance the availability and quality of edu-cational programs, strengthen the quality of patient care and achieve cost efficiencies. While no formal deadline for agree-ments has been set, the parties agreed to “proceed in an expeditious manner.”
Gerald D. Fitzgerald, president and chief executive officer of Oakwood, says the affiliation will “strengthen the quality of our teaching programs by making it possible to rotate residents and students of each organization through the other’s programs. It will increase the amount of clinical research we’re able to produce as U-M researchers collaborate with the Oakwood faculty to form a mutually beneficial team.”
Medical School Dean Giles G. Bole says the University is seeking additional community-based outpatient and inpatient settings to train medical students and residents. “We need to provide greater exposure to primary care patients, and Oakwood Health Services is a major health care system that offers diverse teaching environments.”
In the affiliation discussions, the two organizations will be seeking “cost-effective approaches to share equipment, personnel and support services,” says Hospitals Executive Director John D. Forsyth.
Both organizations have appointed medical and administrative representatives to design and formulate specific programs, according to Martin Farber, Oakwood’s senior vice president and director of medical education.
The Oakwood system is one of the most comprehensive health care delivery networks in southeastern Michigan. It operates six hospitals with a total of 1,936 beds, including Oakwood Hospital, a 615-bed full-service teaching facility in Dear-born. Thirty specialty and medical centers and 1,100 physicians are affiliated with the system.
