CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman Regional announced plans to open the first of their planned “health parks.” This is a new concept that combines multiple types of health services into a single setting. The arrival of health parks should be viewed from the perspective of the delivery models that share the goal of delivering integrated clinical care to patients.
“Health parks are one way health systems can respond to both the demand for integrated care and the need for access to customers,” said Cullman Regional CEO James Clements.
The new Cullman Regional – Hartselle Health Park is designed to offer a large number of outpatient services in the same area in order to meet both existing and future patient demand. Health parks are one response to the steady increase in the demand for outpatient care that is not tied to a hospital.
“The trend in health care is to focus on access, cost structure and convenience,” said Cullman Regional Vice President of Marketing Lindsey Dossey. “Developing innovative outpatient campuses addresses all of these objectives.”
The concept is to use the health park to bring services into the community, eliminating the need for people to drive long distances to hospitals. Patients can also immediately get follow-up tests after a doctor visit and won’t need to drive to another location to have their specimen collected.
Another benefit of the health park is that it is cheaper to build. Hospitals are usually congested in terms of density in structures. This often forces people to build vertically, which is more expensive.
Cullman Regional’s first health park will open in Hartselle in May 2021, with Phase 1, which will feature a specialty physician clinic to provide much needed care to Hartselle and the surrounding communities.
Phase 2 of the Hartselle Health Park will feature an Urgent Care Center and an Imaging Center to offer Imaging Services not currently available to the Hartselle Community.
“Health parks are a step toward integrated care,” Clements said. “This means the model is consistent with the care integration requirements of medical homes and accountable care organizations. The real benefit to the community is that health parks can be built to accommodate the health care needs of each community.”
For more information about Cullman Regional, call at (256) 737-2000 or visit online at www.CullmanRegional.com.
