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anesthesia providers and we have the ability to truly transform anesthesia services across the country.”
BECOMING USAP-COLORADO
USAP, GCA and SDA have a common goal: to provide the highest quality anesthesia care and services to patients, hospitals and facilities in Colorado.
Leadership has already begun to bring the two heritage organizations together, operationally and clinically, to build USAP-Colorado. “If we’re going to integrate, we’re going to do it right; we’re going to go all the way and integrate cultures, brands and our approach to quality care and services.” said Dr. Maloney.
Integrating two successful management services organizations (MSOs), however, is not easy. “Our goal is to blend both cultures into something new; to create a high-performing organization that takes advantage of the best aspects of each culture and leverages the strength of USAP’s shared services.” said Marty Watson, senior vice president of Operations, USAP-Colorado.
“The decision to migrate to a new USAP name was easy for the new Colorado Board,” said Watson. “Each brand has a legacy to uphold to their hospital partners and patients alike. By unifying as an integrated group, we can ensure greater consistency in quality care, services and brand.”
“USAP partners with well-established, highly-reputable practices. Asking each to change, to become something di erent than they are, is challenging and scary. GCA already had great synergy with SDA and we were con dent in our integration skills, having just gone through this in 2013 to become GCA. Plus, this time we had the expertise of USAP behind us,” said Dr. Harkness. “We were con dent we could come together with SDA, take the best from both cultures and create a new entity that is better, stronger and more innovative than either could be alone. What we have found is that the sum of our two practices is much greater than either could be alone; add the expertise of USAP and we have 1+1=4.”
Today, GCA and SDA are re ning their bylaws, changing
their practice and setting new policies, new platforms, new scheduling and new quality initiatives adopted from each
group to become better than they were when they started. “Combining two successful practices, each with strong quality care initiatives and well-built hospital relations is not easy. It must we be well-thought-out, include open communication and strong strategic planning. Having a third successful partner like USAP to provide guidance has helped to open our eyes and allowed us to achieve continued success,” said Dr. Harkness.
“THIS UNION WILL ALLOW US TO INCREASE ACCESS TO CARE, IMPROVE OUR PATIENT OUTCOMES, REALIZE EFFICIENCIES IN COVERAGE MODELS AND COMBINE CLINICAL STANDARDS OF CARE.” SAID DR. MALONEY.
“We are serious about quality, with a steadfast commitment
to the highest standards of clinical care, safety and service. Becoming USAP-Colorado is our next step toward creating one culture guided by our mission and values to further enhance the patient experience and continuously improve clinical
quality and operational e ciency,” said Dr. Harkness. “Together, we are uniquely equipped to handle the anesthesia needs of sophisticated, growing health systems operating in today’s dynamic health care environment.”
“Change is hard but it is worth it,” said Watson. “Don’t underestimate the value of good change management. Be mindful to each of your audiences. Address the topics that
are top of mind to each of them. Gain consensus on every integration step, ensuring each side understands why and the bene ts that will come. Then, communicate with them early and often. Once you get buy-in, you can accelerate into something new. We are excited to be the rst in USAP to merge two groups and brand our new name in the marketplace. We are excited to nally be under one roof, continuing the clinical and operational aspects of this merger.” ■
ISSUE ONE | CONNECTED
ADVICE
Form strong relationships between the leadership teams of each of the merging practices quickly and communicate to each of your audiences early, often and openly.
Create a common goal that everyone from both groups wants to support, e.g. quality patient care and hospital services, delivered e ciently.
Don’t underestimate the value and complexity of
culture change. Realize and respect the di erences. Communication is the key to overcoming trust and con ict in building out strong teamwork with committees and MSO teams.
Simplify governance to drive e ciencies in the business o ce. GCA and SDA each had strong MSOs. By combining services and tapping into the shared services of USAP, they were able to build the framework needed to structure an e cient services model for USAP-Colorado.