Rochester Business Journal

The University of Rochester Medical Center and Thompson Health System concluded an agreement this week to formalize Thompson’s affiliation with URMC, officials of both systems said Thursday. The move comes after nine months of discussions.

The new arrangement—approved by Thompson’s board this week—came after the Federal Trade Commission signed off on the deal, URMC Bradford Berk M.D. said.

The newly adopted legal structure puts Thompson under Strong Partners Health System Inc., the entity that owns URMC’s Strong Memorial and Highland hospitals, but URMC does not own Thompson, which will continue to function independently, officials said.

Under the agreement, URMC and Thompson, which have enjoyed a long partnership, are able to move medical staff among their various facilities at will. Previously, the systems had to sign a new agreement for each collaboration.

Thompson is a 1,350-employee integrated system centered on F.F. Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua. It also includes several owned medical practices, a Farmington urgent care center and senior living and skilled-nursing facilities.

URMC is the region’s largest health care organization. It employs 16,385 of UR’s more than 20,000 workers. In addition to Strong Memorial and Highland hospitals, it employs more than 900 doctors and medical researchers in its medical faculty group; runs medical, nursing and dental schools; and owns some two dozen primary-care practices as well as two skilled-nursing facilities.

As a URMC affiliate, Thompson Health will continue to operate under its existing board of directors with the addition of new representatives from URMC. Thompson representatives are also slated to join the URMC board, Berk said.

Linda Farchione, who will retire at the end of this month, remains Thompson Health CEO until then. Her designated successor is Thompson Health vice president Michael Stapleton, who is slated to take over as CEO July 1.

For more on the affiliation, see Friday’s print edition of the Rochester Business Journal.(c) 2012 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or e-mail service@rbj.net.