Five Kansas Health Systems Launch Astra Health Shared Services Organization

The founding members are LMH Health, The University of Kansas Health System, Amberwell Health, Newman Regional Health, and Salina Regional Health Center.

Five independent Kansas health systems have launched Astra Health, a regional shared services organization aimed at pooling resources, coordinating services and developing common infrastructure while allowing each health system to remain independent.

The founding members are LMH Health, The University of Kansas Health System, Amberwell Health, Newman Regional Health and Salina Regional Health Center. Together, the organizations serve more than 500,000 patients annually and have a presence across every county in Kansas.

Astra Health will initially focus on developing shared quality metrics and care support tools, with the participating systems exchanging knowledge, data and resources. The initiative is expected to support quality improvement, performance measurement and care delivery while reducing costs for patients and employers.

The shared infrastructure and performance reporting capabilities will be supported through an award from the Kansas Rural Health Transformation Plan.

Shelly Kortkamp, M.D., president and CEO of LMH Health, said the collaboration will help participating hospitals improve quality, share best practices and strengthen care delivery in their communities.

The organizations said the model is intended to provide some of the capabilities and scale of larger health systems without requiring participating hospitals to give up their independence.

Astra Health will also work to expand access to specialty and acute care services and develop direct-to-employer healthcare solutions, according to the announcement.

The five systems will additionally participate in the Kansas Clinical Improvement Collaborative (KCIC), part of The University of Kansas Health System Care Collaborative. KCIC is a clinically integrated network comprising 51 hospitals and was established in 2016. It has received more than $5 million in government grants for rural care delivery and workforce training.

The launch comes several months after seven independent rural Kansas hospitals established the Kansas High Value Network, a clinically integrated network serving about 190,000 patients.

Similar collaborations have emerged in other states as independent rural hospitals seek to share resources and expand capabilities without pursuing acquisition by larger health systems.

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