The newly joint Sparrow Health System and University of Michigan Health held a press conference on Monday, April 3, to address their merge, which went into effect on Saturday, April 1.
CEO and President for Sparrow Health Systems James F. Dover, the University of Michigan Health System is now the sole corporate member as a result of this member substitution.
Dover said within the first 100 days, the newly partnered programs will work on expanding access to plastic surgery as well as anesthesia, which Sparrow has had limited access to due to its shorter numbers of anesthesiologists. Overall, Dover said the partnership will bring additional care and services to the region.
The agreement between the two health care giants was announced in December, after the UM Board of Regents approved the agreement at a meeting.
Michigan State University has many buildings that are jointly run with Sparrow, including the Sparrow MSU Family Medicine and Sparrow Laboratory and MSU Clinical Center. Dover said he “would find it doubtful” any buildings on campus would be renamed to include the University of Michigan brand name.
However, he said that as far as Sparrow’s name is concerned, they have a marketing and communications team still working on this issue.
Dover said as of today, the Sparrow name will stay and he expects there to be a brand change over time within the next year or less.
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