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University of Michigan Health, Sparrow officially partner

University of Michigan's University Hospital is shown in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, March 21, 2020. (Paul Sancya, The Associated Press 2020)

ANN ARBOR – University of Michigan Health and Sparrow Health System have officially joined together, effective April 1, officials announced on Monday.

The two health systems announced plans to merge in December to create a system of care across the state of Michigan.

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One of Michigan’s largest health systems, Sparrow has more than 120 care sites, employs roughly 600 primary-care providers and specialists and approximately 10,000 caregivers. With the new partnership, University of Michigan Health has grown into a $7 billion organization with more than 200 care sites statewide.

“This is an incredibly proud moment for Sparrow as joining University of Michigan Health enables us to accelerate our expansion of services, build greater breadth and depth of clinical expertise, and seamlessly integrate leading-edge technology and other updates into our facilities,” Sparrow Health System President and CEO James F. Dover said in a statement. “We look forward to realizing our shared goal of delivering nationally renowned clinical excellence in an accessible way for patients.”

Chair of the U-M Board of Regents Paul Brown said the partnership combines “the strengths of the world-class University of Michigan Health academic medical center and Sparrow’s successful community-based health system.”

Overall, U-M Health has committed to invest $800 million over eight years in Sparrow.

The two systems had partnered on projects prior to joining together, including Sparrow Children’s Center and U-M Health’s investment in Sparrow’s Physicians Health Plan.

“We become part of University of Michigan Health knowing that we have had a successful partnership in the past and have the same vision for the future,” Sparrow Health System Board Chair John Pirich said in a statement. “This enables Sparrow to achieve our long-term strategy of helping to create a statewide system of care while providing world-class care close to home.”

“For University of Michigan Health, this milestone advances our organization’s long-term vision of a statewide system of highly coordinated care. The completion of this transaction represents a special moment and, as one team, we are well positioned to unlock new opportunities and share best practices while providing our patients with the highest level of care,” CEO of Michigan Medicine, dean of the University of Michigan Medical School and executive vice president for medical affairs at the University of Michigan Marschall S. Runge said in a statement.

“We are confident that, together, University of Michigan Health and Sparrow will bring increased health care innovation to Mid-Michigan and beyond.”

For more information, visit Sparrow.org/NewChapter.


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