In a move designed to strengthen and expand the mission of nonprofit hospice providers in the state, Arbor Hospice & Palliative Care and Hospice of Michigan have formed an alliance.
Both organizations will continue to offer all their current programs and services and anticipate the new affiliation will enable them to commit more resources to patients.
“Arbor is excited to form an affiliation with Hospice of Michigan that aligns our missions and allows us to share best practices to better serve our patients and families,” says Gloria D. Brooks, president and CEO of Arbor Hospice. “Through this affiliation, Arbor and Hospice of Michgan will be able to preserve what’s unique about each organization while preserving the nonprofit hospice legacy to provide compassionate care to all.”
Brooks says collectively, the two organizations will unite in caring for more than 2,200 patients on a daily basis across 58 Michigan counties, making it among the largest provider of hospice and palliative care services in the state. She says both organizations share common missions, visions and values and will be able to better serve patients and their families without regard to age, diagnosis or ability to pay.
The unified organization will be led by Robert Cahill, who has more than two decades of health care experience and has served as president and CEO of Hospice of Michigan since 2014. Brooks will serve as president of Arbor and the Arbor Hospice Foundation and vice president and chief strategy officer for Hospice of Michigan. The organizational management structure will be finalized in early January.
“This affiliation gives us greater opportunities to deliver the highest quality of care by sharing best practices and collaborating to better serve community needs,” saysCahill. ” We are both financially sound organizations and are making this affiliation from a position of strength. This new affiliation will allow both of us to enjoy the financial benefits of being part of a larger organization without sacrificing our names, brands and legacies.”
Under the affiliation agreement, Arbor and Hospice of Michigan will continue as independent nonprofits and operate under their respective names. Arbor will continue to serve patients throughout Washtenaw County and its current service area out of its Ann Arbor office, as Hospice of Michigan continues to serve patients throughout the state.
Patients and families currently served by the two hospices will not experience any change with the affiliation. Clinical teams will remain intact and will continue to deliver the highest quality comfort care to palliative care and end-of-life patients and their families.
