Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine and Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare have launched a strategic collaboration aimed at expanding access to advanced care and advancing physician education and training in West Central Florida.
The agreement looks to increase educational opportunities for students, residents and physicians, and to enhance clinical research in the region, according to a June 5 joint news release.
BayCare, a 16-hospital system, is the region’s largest provider of pediatric, cardiac and behavioral health services. The partnership with Northwestern Medicine — which includes 11 hospitals and more than 200 ambulatory and diagnostic sites — is a key step in BayCare’s strategic growth.
“West Central Florida deserves more access to academic medicine and by entering into a strategic collaboration with Northwestern Medicine, we will accelerate our trajectory as an academic health system,” BayCare President and CEO Stephanie Conners, BSN, RN, said in the release.
The first phase of the collaboration will focus on developing clinical research and creating educational and professional development opportunities for clinicians, the release said.
“We are focused on collaborating with likeminded organizations that are driven by providing patients with greater access to world-class compassionate care, closer to where they live and work,” Northwestern Medicine President and CEO Howard Chrisman, MD, said in the release. “By collaborating with BayCare, we have the opportunity to train and educate the next generation of medical professionals and transform the clinical offerings to patients in West Central Florida.”
Research and discovery is one of five tenets in Northwestern Medicine’s 10-year strategic plan, NM 2035. The system — anchored by the 943-bed Northwestern Memorial Hospital — is committed to breakthroughs that transform healthcare, Dr. Chrisman told Becker’s in July.
“We are among the few elite academic medical centers in the country excelling in translating discoveries into clinical practice,” he said.
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