Fresno’s Saint Agnes partners with large medical group to bring more choice, patients to hospital

Oct. 16--Saint Agnes Medical Center has partnered with Dignity Health, a move that is expected to offer more choices to Valley residents for medical services and open up the hospital to patients from around the region.

San Francisco-based Dignity is one of the nation's largest health care systems, a 20-state network that operates 32 hospitals and clinics in California.

The 436-bed, 85-year-old Saint Agnes hospital is still owned by Michigan-based CHE Trinity Health, but it is the organization's only hospital in California.

With the partnership, patients whose insurance contracts with Dignity will now have access to more doctors and seven medical centers in eight counties stretching from Stockton to Bakersfield. The deal could potentially bring more patients into the Fresno hospital.

"The partnership will create a stronger and more robust care delivery network in Fresno and our surrounding communities," Saint Agnes president and CEO Nancy Hollingsworth said in a news release. "It allows us to provide Valley patients with greater access to the quality health care they deserve in a more efficient and cost-effective manner."

The agreement means more patients in outlying areas of the Valley can go to Saint Agnes or its doctors for medical care, she said. For example, a patient in Merced whose insurance contracts with Dignity may have needed to drive to the Bay Area for high-level care in the past, she said. Now, that patient can go to Saint Agnes.

The partnership connects the Valley to an organization with a strong foothold on the West Coast, said Dalpinder Sandhu, a cardiologist, and president-elect of the Saint Agnes medical staff.

"We will now have a relationship with different facilities that provide different varieties of care," he said, "creating a network where patients can be better taken care of."

Contact Bethany Clough: bclough@fresnobee.com, (559) 441-6431 or @BethanyClough on Twitter.

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