Michigan Medicine acquires Sparrow Health System (Lansing)
I saw this posted on Twitter by our esteemed President, Santa. Seems like a big deal, although I don't know much about these types of mergers. If nothing else, the largest health system in the Lansing area will now have Michigan Medicine signage all over.
December 9th, 2022 at 9:34 AM ^
Good. Sparrow is terrible and I say this as a Lansing native who has family that work there.
My dad went in with heart issues twice last year and the level of care he received was awful. Once he was stable he drove to Ann Arbor to get it addressed and now will not go to Sparrow unless it's an emergency that requires immediate addressing.
December 9th, 2022 at 9:40 AM ^
So in terms of insurance, I assume that hospital will now only accept Blue Cross Blue Wall?
December 9th, 2022 at 9:47 AM ^
Must be good at dealing with alcoholism, mental health and uncontrollable desire to burn couches.
December 9th, 2022 at 10:18 AM ^
I know it's been alluded to once in this thread, but as much as US healthcare has some ugly warts right now, Canada's current healthcare situation is making things here seem pretty heavenly. Maritime provinces and rural areas have a lack of physicians; people waiting hours in the ER; children's hospitals in peril; long wait times to have surgeries...seems pretty bad.
December 9th, 2022 at 10:26 AM ^
Lol those same exact things are happening here too.
My county has a total of 2 OB wards, one of which at a hospital system that is so deep in the red they had to shut down 2/4 hospitals and 1/4 is a glorified urgent care.
The larger university systems had to pool funds to keep open 1 of 2 children’s hospitals in the metro area.
US healthcare is at a tipping point.
December 9th, 2022 at 11:14 AM ^
OB is a money loser most places. It's more of "how much can you afford to lose" thing. The only things it is good for is helping your Medicaid % stay up so you don't get in trouble with the state/maximize your return from the state, and having some part of the population have something positive happen to them (birth), in your facility.
December 9th, 2022 at 11:38 AM ^
many systems prominently advertise their OB services. I suspect because it attracts a potentially lifetime of patient loyalty, from younger/healthier patients that are prob more profitable (e.g., knee replacements) with less risk of expensive hospital stays (e.g., 90 day hospitalization where hospital eats much of the costs).
On the other hand, although I'm a physician, I nothing about health admin. so grain of salt.
December 9th, 2022 at 1:18 PM ^
Hospitals receive supplemental revenue from the Government if their Medicaid population is over a certain percentage of their overall patient population since Medicaid reimbursement is insufficient most times to cover the cost of care. Also, mothers are the primary decision makers in the household for where the family receives care. Hospitals are competing for the future downstream revenue.
December 9th, 2022 at 10:20 AM ^
Kind of an overreaction to the All and McNamara beefs, but that’s just my opinion.
December 9th, 2022 at 10:39 AM ^
I have a lot of family in Lansing and they have been sending around the Cade McNamara video and asking if this is a plot to undermine the treatment of Spartan athletes. Another asked if the competing McLaren hospital would now sign a NIL deal with Cade and Eric All.
December 9th, 2022 at 10:50 AM ^
Sparrow is one of the key hospitals for training Michigan State medical students, which is amusing, but I'm sure everything will continue to be coordinated smoothly.
December 9th, 2022 at 11:08 AM ^
Biospine acquisition comin?
December 9th, 2022 at 11:18 AM ^
This is happening in dentistry and optometry as well. Private equity backed firms are buying out tons of practices all over the country. They take over the back-end stuff and marketing while pressuring the providers (dentists/optometrists) to push certain additional treatments or sales.
December 9th, 2022 at 11:56 AM ^
As a healthcare worker I hate seeing all of this consolidation happening. It won’t be good for workers or patients in the long term, imo
December 9th, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
The leaders of the West in treating couch burns???
December 9th, 2022 at 3:00 PM ^
Seems like this would make Michigan services more accessible. It’s tough to get treatment when you can’t travel far. Though I don’t really know if any Ann Arbor care would be made available in Lansing. That’s great news though.
December 9th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
Nice! I was wondering why Sparrow allowed McLaren to wiggle in under the MSU banner after running Lansing for so long. They had bigger moves on deck. Go Blue!