Watertown Regional Medical Center (WRMC) has initiated a strategic process to explore whether a health system partner would accelerate WRMC’s ability to achieve its vision for the organization, WRMC officials announced today.

The WRMC Board of Directors recently hired a national healthcare advisor, Juniper Advisory LLC, to help WRMC explore and evaluate all possible strategic options for its future. At the end of this process, the Board will determine whether any of the partnership options will help WRMC achieve its vision and if it is in the best interest of the greater Watertown community, or whether it is best for WRMC to remain on its current path.

“As the stewards of healthcare in our community, ensuring that WRMC continues to exceed meeting our community’s needs and expectations is at the center of everything that we do,” said Jeff Baum, chairman of the WRMC board of directors. “Our community deserves nothing less than for us to explore all options at a time when health systems across the country are forging creative partnerships to better serve the future needs of their communities.”

The exploration is the next phase in a transformative journey WRMC began several years ago. The Board’s vision is to build the community health system of the future, focused on keeping people well and designing an ideal patient experience. WRMC has made great progress toward achieving this vision:

• In partnership with UW Health over the past six years, WRMC has significantly expanded the availability in the greater Watertown community of specialty care services, including the UW Cancer Center Johnson Creek, Heart & Vascular Center (with the region’s first cardiac catheterization lab) and the American Family Children’s Hospital at WRMC.
• As part of an expansion of the emergency department and women’s health units, WRMC completely redesigned the way care is provided in these areas, based on community input.
• With ONE Wellness – a lifestyle transformation program – WRMC is proactively improving health and wellness for local residents.
• The recent renovation of Harvest Market and Harvest Community Kitchen is an investment in the health of the community and reflects WRMC’s commitment to wellness.

“For 100 years, WRMC has been a great pillar of the Watertown community and we are particularly proud of the great strides we have made in recent years to make the needed shift from a focus on ‘sick care’ to keeping residents well,” said John Kosanovich, president and CEO of WRMC. “Even with this progress, healthcare is changing drastically, and it’s increasingly more challenging for independent hospitals like WRMC to thrive alone. This decision by our board echoes what so many forward-looking hospitals around the country are doing at this time.”

Evaluation criteria
As the next step in this journey, Juniper Advisory will assist the Board and leadership of WRMC in determining whether a more integrated partnership with a larger health system is in the best interest of the greater Watertown community, what organizations are the ideal partners and what form the relationship should take to best serve the community.

The Board has developed criteria for evaluating a possible partner and determining whether a partner shares its vision for a future focused on continued innovation in keeping people well and designing an ideal patient experience. Among other criteria, the right partner would be willing to invest in WRMC and the local community; help to maintain and expand services locally; preserve a meaningful role for local governance; protect and invest in WRMC employees; and promote the hospital’s mission.

UW Health, with which WRMC has had a mutually beneficial clinical affiliation since 2008, is invited to be part of the exploration.

Time of unprecedented change
Standalone hospitals across the country face a complex set of challenges in an industry that is experiencing an unprecedented period of change. Hospitals are forced to do more with less – constantly improving quality and patient safety, investing in state-of-the-art medical and information technology, and making the shift to advancing the wellness of patients and reducing their need for inpatient hospital care.

Given these factors, WRMC’s Board recognized it is the right time to take steps that ensure WRMC remains strong long into the future.

“By doing this now – while we are in a strong financial position and with great momentum from our recent investments – we are taking our future into our own hands and creating a stronger health system for the greater Watertown community,” said Kosanovich.

The Board will lead this process over the coming six to nine months. WRMC is committed to being transparent and providing updates during this process. Along with regular communication channels, a special website – www.AdvancingWRMC.com – has been developed to house information and ongoing updates about the process and other initiatives underway at WRMC. 

“While we are very early in this process and we do not have a lot of details today, we are committed to transparency and want to share updates as they become available,” said Mike Sullivan, M.D., WRMC chief of staff and board member. “It’s also important for our community and patients to expect the superior care we are known for during this time.”