Michigan Medicine, St. Joseph Mercy Health System announce another collaboration

Michigan Medicine and St. Joseph Mercy Health System has announced another collaboration that will help the organization further improve access to high-quality health care for patients.

On Sept. 4, the organization will begin caring for an expanded patient population on the 10 East Medicine Unit at St. Joseph Ann Arbor (nicknamed the “Michigan Unit” by faculty and staff).

The unit, formerly the jointly-operated Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Unit, will provide care to patients transferred from Michigan Medicine’s emergency department, or referred for admission from ADTUs and ambulatory clinics.

While Michigan Medicine will continue providing specialized geriatric care on the Michigan Unit, expanding beyond exclusively providing geriatric care there will help the organization make “the right care, at the right time” available to more general medicine patients who require admission.

The unit will be staffed by Michigan Medicine physicians — ultimately 24/7 — in coordination with St. Joe’s nurses, techs and support staff, and supplemented by IHA nurse practitioners and providers as needed.

This new endeavor comes on the heels of the recent formalization of a joint venture at St. Joseph Chelsea.

Both of these endeavors are the result of efforts from a number of teams across the institution who are working to create capacity at University Hospital for high complexity cases, align patient care better to the appropriate environment, and promote a better patient experience with fewer delays to admission.

Click here for FAQs regarding the new collaboration.