The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and Baptist Health share a common heritage and commitment to deliver to Arkansans exceptional clinical care and service for an affordable price. In recent years, we have built trust and respect between our organizations by working together to improve care delivery across a number of clinical services. Our work together has confirmed our ability to strengthen the quality, breadth and cost efficiency of our clinical programs for the benefit of those we serve. These early successes motivate us to explore where we might take our collaboration to a new level to deliver to our constituents a broader range of benefits across our patient care, educational and community service missions.
This statement of strategic intent reflects Baptist Health’s and UAMS’ commitment to work together to offer a wider range of educational opportunities and to deliver clinical care more efficiently and effectively than either institution can do on its own. Our goal is to work together and with like-minded organizations to strengthen our ability to improve health status and care delivery across the state. As our work continues, we will share with our colleagues and those we serve added information about our plans to realize that vision.
While maintaining our identities as separate institutions, Baptist Health and UAMS commit to work together in the future across a broader range of academic and clinical fronts for the benefit of all Arkansans. Our common goal is to offer enhanced clinical programs to patients and broader educational opportunities to our learners – supported by advanced technologies, a highly skilled workforce, and sophisticated patient education and care coordination capabilities. Working together, we will collaborate to promote responsible stewardship of public resources, foster economic development, and lead in the development of coordinated systems of care that advance our common health-promotion and illness-prevention goals.
Our future activities will build upon what we have learned from a number of specific initiatives through which UAMS and Baptist Health collaborate to serve patients today. These shared efforts include: Maternal Fetal Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vascular Surgery, eICU, Telehealth, and an Antimicrobial Stewardship program, as well as Emergency Medicine and Orthopedics at Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway. These collaborative initiatives have demonstrated a variety of benefits to our patients and the communities we serve.
In the education arena, UAMS and Baptist Health seek to grow the number of students and other trainees by creating broader opportunities for teaching and learning. Already, our institutions are involved in the education of over 4,000 health care learners each year. Experience indicates learners trained in Arkansas are far more likely to build their careers here. Whether it’s a matter of meeting the educational needs of more Arkansans or attracting additional students from outside the state, our work together should enhance the state’s ability to attract, train and retain the best possible candidates. Through our collaborative efforts, Arkansans who seek to enter or expand their role in in the health care workforce will find a greater range of educational options available to them than either UAMS or Baptist Health could create on its own. We anticipate that several collaborative educational activities may emerge over time.
In the clinical services arena, Baptist Health and UAMS are discussing ways to deploy existing and new resources to enhance health care quality, safety, service and access while identifying opportunities to reduce costs and deliver value back to the community. In so doing, we will prepare our organizations and care delivery partners to thrive in the transformation from fee-for-service medicine to value-based health care. Our state faces considerable health challenges; by working together, we can have a greater impact in helping Arkansans lead longer, healthier lives.
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