Akron General Health System has formed a joint venture aimed at commercializing its outpatient health and wellness services to health systems, universities and municipalities.
The move comes as hospitals across the nation, staring down the specter of declining reimbursements and more patients receiving less lucrative outpatient care, seek creative ways of securing new revenue streams.
Akron General and Akron-based real estate development group Signet Development have started a new company, Integrated Wellness Partners, to help customers develop wellness centers modeled on those created by Akron General, according to a statement from the health system.
Akron General operates two health and wellness centers in Northeast Ohio, with a third expected to come next year. The health system opened its first wellness center in 1996. The outpatient centers feature medically supervised fitness centers, as well as diagnostic services, physician offices, rehabilitation services and satellite emergency departments, the Akron Beacon-Journal reported.
The two existing wellness centers generated 600,000 member visits last year, according to the statement.
The health system has served as a consultant to several other hospitals seeking to develop similar wellness and outpatient centers, but couldn’t offer assistance with construction and financing until it formed the partnership with Signet.
Signet’s role will be to help customers with construction oversight, financing and legal issues. Akron General will help customers evaluate their markets and determine which services should be included in their outpatient centers, the Beacon-Journal reported.
