This month, UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center are celebrating a decade of excellence — a successful 10-year partnership between the two entities.
“From the start, there was a shared vision and commitment from UNMC and hospital leaders to make this partnership work,” said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. “Both sides have remained dedicated to making this vision a reality. Even in the face of challenges, the dedication to this partnership has remained steady.”
Before the 1997 merger of the two hospitals, Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital, founded in 1869, and University Hospital, founded in 1917, had each established themselves as leaders in health care.
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A celebration commemorationg the 10th year of the partnership will be today from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Tribute to Caregivers Plaza.
Hospital mergers were popular in the early 1990s, but most were not successful.
“We were unique to flourish,” Fosdick said. “We often get asked, ‘Why did it work for us?’ We remained tenacious. We also valued one another’s strengths.”
“The Nebraska Medical Center has become a national model for successful hospital mergers,” Dr. Maurer said. “The reputation of The Nebraska Medical Center is climbing nationally. The care provided by physicians, nurses and other health care practitioners and staff is of the highest quality.”
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Harold M. Maurer, M.D.  Glenn Fosdick |
The Nebraska Medical Center has treated patients from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 43 foreign countries. Many of those patients come to The Nebraska Medical Center seeking treatment in the areas of solid organ and bone marrow transplantation, oncology, cardiology and neurology.
The past 10 years have been filled with growth. In 1998, The Nebraska Medical Center opened the Lied Transplant Center. A model for cooperative care, the 13-story building embodies the medical center’s commitment to transplant and cancer patients. The transplant center houses a 24-hour clinic, research labs and suites for patients and families.
In 2005, the Hixson-Lied Center for Clinical Excellence was established to consolidate many of The Nebraska Medical Center’s services into one building, leading to more efficient care. The new building houses emergency, radiology, cardiology, surgery and the newborn intensive care unit.
Also in 2005, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Julie Gerberding, M.D., joined physicians at The Nebraska Medical Center for the opening of the Biocontainment Unit.
The unit is currently the only center accessible to civilians in the United States to safely care for anyone exposed to a contagious and dangerous disease such as avian flu.
The past 10 years also have been filled with many firsts. In the first years after the merger, staff at The Nebraska Medical Center delivered the state’s first set of quintuplets, performed the region’s first implantable hearing aid surgery and performed the world’s first bowel resection using surgical robotic equipment.
In the years following, The Nebraska Medical Center was the first in the region to use ‘camera in a pill’ for small intestine disorders, the first in the region to use the Novalis radiation therapy system and the first in the region to use Calypso 4-D Localization System for radiation therapy.
The medical center can also stake claim as the first in North America to perform a frozen elephant trunk aortic dissection procedure and the first in the nation to perform an autologous islet transplant on a young child.
The Nebraska Medical Center’s academic partnership with UNMC strengthens the medical center’s ability to offer cutting-edge treatments.
“Patient care rises to a new level when patients have access to new therapies because of research and educational opportunities,” Dr. Maurer said. “Even though the hospital is located in Omaha, it has also become a resource for the entire state.”
The Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC’s educational programs are responsible for
training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution.
“We have attracted the best and brightest students, residents and health care practitioners,” Dr. Maurer said.
“The Nebraska Medical Center’s culture encompasses a commitment to quality improvement,” Fosdick said.
The medical center has twice received the J.D. Power and Associates Distinguished Hospital for Service Excellence (2005 and 2006), six times been awarded the National Consumer Choice Award by the National Research Corporation and is among a select few in the nation to receive recognition for performance improvement among the Thomson 100 Top Hospitals.
The Nebraska Medical Center also has received Magnet designation for extraordinary nursing care by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet Recognition Program.
Dr. Maurer predicts a bright future for the partnership.
“The Nebraska Medical Center will become among the highest-ranked destination hospitals nationally and internationally in keeping with UNMC’s quest to become world-class,” he said.
The next decade also will bring more growth.
The Nebraska Medical Center will open a 60-bed hospital in Bellevue in 2010.
The Clinical Cancer Center, a multidisciplinary, full-service approach to cancer treatment with radiation treatments, surgical procedures, medical therapies, radiology and laboratory support, will open in fall of 2008 in west Omaha.
Together, The Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC represent the third largest employer in the state, assuming both were private entities.