ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605240039
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
Memorial Hospital of Martinsville & Henry County has teamed with Carolina Medicorp Inc. to take advantage of the private, not-for-profit health-care system's expertise in managed care.
Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Carolina Medicorp owns Partners National Health Plans of N.C., which insures some 7,500 textile workers in the Henry County area. Memorial Hospital already has a provider contract with Partners.
The affiliation status with Carolina gives it access to information on how to hold down costs to patients while allowing it to remain independent, said Susan Reynolds, the hospital spokeswoman.
Memorial Hospital administrator Joe Roach will continue as an employee of Quorum Health Resources Inc. of Nashville, Tenn., which manages the facility. The hospital is a not-for-profit facility.
Carolina Medicorp is the holding company for 911-bed Forsyth Memorial Hospital in Winston-Salem along with other hospital affiliates and long-term care residences. It has an in-house quality management department and has developed practice protocols - guidelines for treatment of such health care problems as diabetes and hip replacements - that help control costs.
Those services should be of use to Memorial, said Carolina president Paul Wiles.
Wiles said the affiliation has no money attached. "When it goes beyond educational, they will pay our costs for providing services," he said.
Wiles said Carolina hopes to benefit from the affiliation by attracting more referrals from Memorial to Forsyth, but that there is no formal structure for that.
Forsyth's main competition for patient referrals from the Martinsville area are Roanoke Valley hospitals and Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem.
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