Intermountain sets restructuring

Intermountain Healthcare, a Salt Lake City-based health system with 22 hospitals and more than 185 clinics, has announced a new internal structure that the company says will better serve patients and communities.

The company will replace its current geographically defined administrative regions with a new structure with two main groups: a Community Care Group and a Specialty Care Group.

The Community Care Group will focus on keeping people well through prevention and excellent primary care — for example, ensuring people get the health screenings and immunizations they should have, as well as helping them manage chronic diseases like diabetes and providing them outpatient treatments for relatively minor medical needs, the company said.

The Specialty Care Group will be focused on specialist and hospital inpatient care.

Intermountain said the new internal structure is based on how patients use health and healthcare services and reflects new communication tools and processes that allow for faster and more direct contact among patients, caregivers and organization leaders. The new alignment will create more value for those Intermountain serves, including the underserved to whom charity care is provided in times of need, it said.

The company said it has made similar “bold” moves in the past, including creating an insurance company, SelectHealth; forming a Medical Group with about 1,500 employed physicians; and developing world-class clinical programs.

“Intermountain expects its new internal structure will result in more consistently excellent patient experiences, whether at hospitals, clinics, other venues or online,” the company said. “The changes will help Intermountain continue to provide the highest-quality care at the lowest sustainable cost.”