UAB, Russell Medical enter collaborative agreement

Collaboration will address issues of health-care delivery.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System announced today a strategic collaboration agreement with Russell Medical Center in Alexander City, Ala.

hospital_at_night_storyUnder the five-year agreement, UAB will collaborate with Russell Medical Center  (RMC) on projects that will focus on helping deliver more effective health care to the people of East Central Alabama.

“Russell Medical Center is an important provider of health-care services in eastern Alabama, and UAB is pleased to enter into this new strategic collaboration,” says Will Ferniany, Ph.D., chief executive officer of the UAB Health System. “Collaborations with regional health-care providers are extremely important as UAB works to become the preferred academic medical center of the 21st century.

“Russell Medical Center is committed to bringing the highest quality health-care services to the communities we serve,” says Jim Peace, president and CEO of Russell Medical Center.  “We are proud to forge this new relationship with the state’s most renowned health system for the purpose of enhancing operational effectiveness, coordinating, planning and providing services to the citizens of our service area. This new relationship will allow us to improve upon the stellar service our customers have come to expect.”

Under the five-year agreement, UAB will collaborate with Russell Medical Center (RMC) on projects that will focus on helping deliver more effective health care to the people of East Central Alabama.

While Russell Medical Center will be considered an associate of the UAB Health System, the agreement centers on working together to solve fundamental issues in health-care delivery. Administrative duties and governance will remain separate, and the collaboration does not include the sharing of any fiduciary responsibilities.

This is UAB’s fourth strategic collaboration. It previously signed agreements with Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital, Shoals Hospital and Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center.

In January, RMC and the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center entered a joint agreement to enhance oncology services provided in the Lake Martin and surrounding areas. The partnership, UAB Medicine – The Cancer Center at RMC, was the first relationship of its type for both parties