OHSU Clinical Collaboration
In June 2014, Mid-Columbia Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science
University forged an alliance designed to elevate to a new level the delivery
of health services in the region.
The alliance is not a merger or acquisition. MCMC remains an independent
hospital overseen by a board of local citizens.
One of the primary goals of the relationship is to keep our patients in
the healthcare setting that is most appropriate for their healthcare needs.
Most often that setting is their own community. Affiliating with OHSU
helps us accomplish this by enabling us to offer a more comprehensive
range of primary and specialty care services. In short, now MCMC is able
to give our patients local access to many of the specialists and other
resources of the state’s only academic health institution.
In 2015, MCMC implemented a new electronic health records system that now
ensures patients who receive care both locally and at OHSU experience
a seamless treatment experience.
The new affiliation between MCMC and OHSU is a natural outgrowth of several
past successful collaborations. In addition to cardiology and dermatology
specialty care, the two organizations have worked together to expand local
access to orthopedic care. MCMC also is part of the OHSU Telemedicine
Network, which enables local physicians to easily connect with OHSU specialists
for long-distance consultations on stroke, pediatric and newborn patients.
Benefits of Partnering with OHSU
- Allows MCMC to quickly fill gaps in specialty care with highly trained
members of the medical and teaching staffs of Oregon’s only academic
health and research university.
- Gives MCMC a cost-effective way to expand the availability of specialty
and subspecialty care in the Mid-Columbia and enable our patients to stay
close to home for care whenever possible.
- Enables us to make available to our patients a breadth of care not typically
found in smaller communities.
- Connects our physicians, staff and community with the vast expertise and
resources of a state-of-the-art university and medical center.
- Facilitates the development of a telemedicine component and system of protocols
that will speed the decision-making process and enhance the care of trauma
and other patients.