MedCenter One Merger With Sanford Official - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

MedCenter One Merger With Sanford Official

Officials say the Sanford Health Merger means no layoffs and more investment into western North Dakota...

A recognizable name in healthcare is no more...

Medcenter One will now go by Sanford Health.

But it's more than a name change...

As Donnell Preskey reports the merger between Sanford Health and Medcenter One will mean millions of dollars in investments to expand and improve healthcare in western and central North Dakota.

(Dr. Lambrecht) "Today we are Sanford and this is a big day."

After going by Medcenter One for 110 years... The health system well recognized in Bismarck merges with Sanford Health -- the largest non-profit, rural health system in the nation.

(Dr. Lambrecht) "I can tell you with a lot of pride that this relationship as Sanford is going to create a lot of stir in western and central ND. This is a game changer for health care. It's a game changer for patients, quality, controlling costs and doing all the things we are responsible for."

Sanford Health will invest $200 million in central and western North Dakota.

(Kelby Krabbenhoft) "Those things include clinics in Dickinson, create a center in Jamestown and beyond that, creating air service putting helicopter here in Bismarck to move and meet the needs in the oil patch to move in a quick fashion."

(Dr. Lambrecht) "In discussion of merger was how do we create access in western / central ND. Realizing there's enormous opportunity for us to provide access in Dickinson."

A substantial investment will be made in improving care in western North Dakota. They plan to build what Sanford calls a new "super clinic" that would provide for more physicians, diagnostics and light surgeries.

However, Lambrecht is not disclosing the exact plans.

(Lambrecht) "Stay tuned."

In the next coming months you see the name, and graphics you know and recognize transition to Sanford Health -- but Lambrecht and Krabbenhoft say the care patients receive will only get better.

(Lambrecht) "Being by ourselves in the long term was not a good place to be." financially ok, but government regulations, to stand alone in this environment not wise."

(Krabbenhoft) "Telling patients that what you have always known at the ground level and be assured that what you've always known will be there. Beyond that then, is the expectation and story that we get to tell about specialization, new technology and how the system works."

For patients that means being able to tap into specialists and treatments offered in the Sanford system with the 1200 doctors in the seven states it serves. >>

Sanford CEO, Kelby Krabbenhoft says becoming larger will allow Sanford to invest in high-impact technology and expanding facilities.

He says since the 2009 merger with Meritcare in Fargo, they have saved over $19 million in supplies and services.

Krabbenhoft says the merger will not result in lay offs or loss in pay for employees.