Synergy is what happens when two or more elements come together to create advantages greater than the sum of their parts.
By joining forces, Brookwood Medical Center and Northport Holdings LLC are hoping to bring the benefits of a broader range of post-acute care in one location to patients who need rehabilitation, senior psychiatric services or skilled nursing.
“By bringing all three types of care together in one campus, we want to optimize patient recovery and minimize inconvenience to patients and their families,” said Stephen Preston, vice president of external affairs at Brookwood Medical Center. “When we are doing discharge planning, we can offer our patients a range of post-acute care nearby. If they need more than one type of care, they will have access to it without having to arrange transportation to another location.”
Preston said when Northport Holdings first approached Brookwood with the idea of collaboration, the benefits were immediately obvious.
“In addition to giving patients in the area we serve more convenient access to a broader range of care, moving our rehabilitation and senior psychiatric facilities to Patchwork Farms will also free up hospital space other patients may need,” Preston said.
John Burchfield, vice president of Northport Holding, LLC, said, “We expect the 65 and older population to increase more than 17% by 2016, and that means the demand for skilled nursing and rehabilitation care will only increase. We look forward to taking healthcare to the next level for these seniors as we work collaboratively with Brookwood Medical Center in a fully integrated geriatric care system.”
On a scenic 14-acre tract of land near the Colonnade, each company plans to construct a new building on its respective seven-acre parcel. Northport will build and operate the 120-bed nursing facility and Brookwood will build and operate a facility containing a 30-bed post-acute rehabilitation unit and a 16-bed geriatric psychiatric unit.
“We see Patchwork Farms as an ideal component in what we call the ‘post-acute continuum of care’ for senior adults,” Brookwood Medical Center President and CEO Garry Gause said. “The campus will be in an aesthetically pleasant environment, while at the same time having state-of-the-art geriatric care as patients adjust from acute care situations. It will be in a more relaxed setting, and alongside top-flight professional healthcare, will help continue to improve patient outcomes.
“Patchwork Farms is another huge move in Brookwood’s commitment to patient care along the Highway 280 corridor,” Gause added. “We believe it fully complements our new Cardiovascular Associates of the Southeast facility which is very close to Patchwork Farms, as well as our plans for the state’s first-ever Free Standing Emergency Department at the intersection of Highway 280 and Highway 119.”
The next step in the process is obtaining approval from the state’s Certificate of Need Board. HealthSouth has filed a challenge to block approval.
Burchfield believes the project will be approved, as the facility will not add new nursing beds, but will transfer a portion of the beds from Northport’s purchase of the Jefferson County Ketona nursing home. The rehabilitation and psychiatric beds are also transfers from existing beds at Brookwood Medical Center.
The project has gained support from community leaders.
"I'm excited about the project Brookwood Medical Center and Northport Holding are proposing to bring to the Patchwork Farms site and what it means in terms of us developing better access to health care in Vestavia Hills,” Mayor Alberto Zaragoza said. “We expect this project to also have a positive economic impact on our citizens and the community as a whole.
"The growth potential is what makes it so promising, not to mention the investment by those involved to ensure that we develop and expand health care services in Vestavia Hills for our citizens. Our hope is to see it grow into something even more significant going forward, possibly integrating these services with that of Lifetime Fitness and other future projects at the Patchwork Farms site," Zaragoza said.
University of Montevallo Stephens College of Business Dean Stephen Craft said the development will result in a total economic impact of more than $66 million for the metro region during year one of the construction period and year two of operation. During year one, the economic impact of the construction of the facilities will generate $48,038,545 in total new economic output in the metro region and $15,102,232 in new earnings.
Construction of Patchwork farms is expected to begin soon after regulatory approval is received, with the new facilities complete and ready to welcome their first patients within a year.