Under the agreement, WakeMed will purchase a controlling interest in Blue Ridge Surgery Center in Raleigh, which is operated by SCA. The facility will be jointly owned by WakeMed, physician partners and SCA. Secondly, SCA will manage the surgical service operations for WakeMed Cary (N.C.) Hospital and WakeMed North Healthplex Day Surgery program.
Effective May 17, 2010, WakeMed Cary Hospital surgical services employees will transition to working directly for SCA. At North Healthplex, surgical services employees will continue to work for WakeMed, with the exception of the manager. The reason North Healthplex employees will not work directly for SCA is because North Healthplex is not a stand-alone hospital, but is legally considered an extension of the Raleigh campus, according to the release.
“Partnering with Surgical Care Affiliates supports WakeMed’s long-term ambulatory growth strategy and will help us to continue to meet the outpatient surgery needs of this community,” Bill Atkinson, MD, president & CEO of WakeMed, said in the release. “With the purchase of Blue Ridge and the management services agreement, we are well positioned for volume growth in our ambulatory surgery program while further enhancing the service we provide to our surgical patients and physician partners.”
Andrew Hayek, president and CEO of Surgical Care Affiliates, adds, “We are honored to be selected to enter into this relationship with the WakeMed system. Surgical Care Affiliates’ commitment is to bring the best practices from our surgical facility operations across the country to the WakeMed system. We believe that this relationship will enhance WakeMed’s position as the premier health system in Raleigh and further position Surgical Care Affiliates as the partner of choice for health systems and physicians in providing surgical services.”
Read the release on the WakeMed and SCA partnership.
