Blessing Health System in Quincy, under the sponsorship of Memorial Health System, will take part as a participant in the BJC Collaborative.

 The Collaborative was founded in October 2012 by BJC HealthCare (St. Louis), Memorial Health System (Springfield, Ill.), Saint Luke’s Health System (Kansas City), and CoxHealth (Springfield, Mo.) to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare in the region.  

While remaining independent, member and participant organizations will collaborate to achieve savings, deploy clinical programs and services to improve access to and quality of healthcare for patients, lower healthcare costs, and create additional efficiencies that will benefit patients and communities.

“Memorial Health System is pleased to sponsor Blessing Health System as it joins the BJC Collaborative as a partner,” aid Edgar J. Curtis, president and chief executive officer of Memorial Health System. “Blessing Health System shares the same values and commitments as the four founding members of the Collaborative as we work together to achieve better patient outcomes, improve efficiencies and lower costs. Through Blessing Health System’s presence as a partner, all members of the BJC Collaborative – and their patients – will benefit.”

Participation in the BJC Collaborative is a natural extension of Blessing’s long-time relationship with Memorial Health System.  Blessing and Memorial have a shared interest in the following initiatives that they will continue to explore along with new ones together and/or through the BJC Collaborative:

·  Implementation of the Allscripts Electronic Medical Record platform.

·  Participation in the Lincoln Land Health Information Exchange.

·  Shared services such as the existing Memorial Bariatric Program and Denman linen services.

·  Access to shared learning opportunities and the future Memorial “Learning Center.”

·  Development of relationships with additional health care providers in the Central Illinois corridor, including relationships with providers such as Springfield Clinic, which can bring specialists and subspecialists to the Quincy community. 

A significant benefit of the BJC Collaborative is the deepening of Blessing’s connection to the St. Louis and Springfield, Ill. health care markets, which are frequent sites of referrals for Blessing patients for specialized medical care or treatment. BJC HealthCare includes Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, which are academic medical centers affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine.  

The four founding members of the Collaborative have nearly 5,000 hospital beds, 52,600 employees and 6,933 employed and affiliated physicians across their adjacent service areas.  The Blessing Health System has 327 licensed beds, 72 employed physicians, and 2,700 employees.  

Blessing is the first health system to be invited to participate in the Collaborative by the founding members. 

“Blessing has taken a bold step into the future of healthcare and aligned itself with the best partners available,” said B. Bradford Billings, President and CEO of the Blessing Health System.  “The BJC Collaborative will provide Blessing with access to the best medical resources and professionals in the region and allow Blessing to participate in shaping the direction of healthcare services throughout the Midwest in a rapidly changing healthcare field.”