Valley hospitals coming together to create Scottsdale Lincoln Health Network

April 18, 2013

Scottsdale Healthcare and John C. Lincoln Health Network announced Thursday an affiliation deal is in the works that keeps the two systems separate but allows them to share some resources and increase their market share.

It will be called the Scottsdale Lincoln Health Network, and it would include five hospitals and more than 10,000 employees.

Keith Jones from Scottsdale Healthcare said it is too early in the process to know all the details but that there are no plans to merge the two administrations or cut jobs at either organization.

“We’ll work together to collaborate on services and look at potentially using a single electronic medical record, and create a clinically integrated network,” Jones said.

Eugene Schneller, a professor at ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business, said these types of arrangements can be good for business and patient care at the same time.

“What you get when you join together is the ability to standardize, the ability to take best practices and drive those across two systems to get better efficiency out of it and better clinical outcomes,” Schneller said.

It also lets them buy goods and services as one big system, which can mean lower prices.

Details of the arrangement are expected by the end of July.