UVA & Novant Health to Finalize Joint Venture

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The University of Virginia (UVA) Health System, located in Charlottesville, and Novant Health, headquartered in Winston-Salem, N.C., are working out the final details of a joint venture. This would bring the Northern Virginia community hospitals associated with both health systems into one system.

“We believe a joint operating company will help ensure patients throughout Northern Virginia receive quality care at the right time and the right place, while also providing care in a more efficient manner,” said Richard P. Shannon, MD, UVA’s executive vice president for health affairs, in a statement. “Novant Health has a long track record of successfully managing community health systems, making them an ideal partner for this alliance.”

The two systems are deciding on the details and what the partnership would entail and expect for the new system to be up and running in December, according to Triad Business Journal. In March, it was announced that the two systems were looking into creating a regional health care system together that would cover all of Northern Virginia.

Representatives from both UVA Health System and Novant Health signed a non-binding letter of intent in March as well and started to discuss what the joint operations would mean for the companies. The agreement would include UVA Culpeper Hospital and all of the Novant Health Virginia facilities, including Novant Health Haymarket Medical Center, Novant Health Prince William Medical Center and Novant Health Cancer Center, according to a statement. The discussion also included how Novant Health and UVA Health Systems can “integrate or coordinate cancer care across Northern Virginia, increasing access to UVA’s subspecialty cancer care through the regional health system,” according to a statement from UVA Health System and Novant Health.

“Through this new regional health system, patients will be able to connect with the expertise UVA provides as an academic medical center, including subspecialty care and potential breakthrough treatments through clinical trials, while benefitting from Novant Health’s experience with increasing access to care when and where patients need it,” said Carl S. Armato, president and CEO of Novant Health, in a statement.

According to Novant Health, it will keep 60 percent ownership over the venture, and the employees of the two systems will continue to be employed by the same health system, even though the systems are joining together and expanding. “Novant Health has a strong presence in Northern Virginia, and this proposed partnership only strengthens our ability to identify best practices, advance our population health strategy and lower health care costs,” Armato said in a statement.

Novant Health is seeking to expand its system and partnerships and is exploring collaborating with other academic medical centers, including Duke University Health System, according to Triad Business Journal. Novant Health believes that collaborating with other systems is a great way to grow and expand its knowledge and the services that it is able to offer, according to Armato.