Ascension, the nation’s largest non-profit health system and the largest Catholic health system in the world, has determined that the time is right for its Health City Cayman Islands partnership to transition to full ownership by Narayana Health of India. Ascension will maintain a close relationship with Narayana Health and its Chairman and Director, Dr. Devi Shetty, as it focuses on its other international efforts.
Ascension partnered with Narayana Health and the Cayman government in 2012 to bring innovative, high-quality, low-cost tertiary healthcare services to the Cayman Islands. The result was Health City Cayman Islands (HCCI), a 104-bed tertiary care hospital on Grand Cayman.
After working closely for nearly four years with leaders from Narayana and the government in an innovative public-private partnership to build the strengths and capabilities of HCCI, the hospital is now achieving its vision. HCCI is a world-class hospital accredited by Joint Commission International that opened in 2014 and has received praise for its quality outcomes and caring, compassionate care.
“Our goal was to address unmet needs of residents of the greater Caribbean region and beyond, particularly those who are poor and vulnerable, while exploring ways to learn about different approaches to providing healthcare that might benefit our facilities in the United States and worldwide,” said John D. Doyle, Executive Vice President, Ascension, and President and Chief Executive Officer, Ascension Holdings and Ascension Holdings International.
“Our objective has been less about owning hospitals in other countries, but rather about helping those hospitals achieve success and sustainability by offering services such as resource and supply management and biomedical engineering through Ascension’s Solutions Division subsidiaries,” Doyle said. “With the success of HCCI, Ascension can continue to focus our energies and resources on our other international needs.”
“Ascension has been proud to be part of this important public-private partnership, as Health City Cayman Islands has supported our Mission to transform healthcare,” said Anthony R. Tersigni, EdD, FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ascension. “Since beginning operations in 2014, the hospital has achieved great results for residents of the island nation and its neighbors.”
HCCI has served more than 46,000 patients since opening its doors, with an initial focus on cardiac and orthopedic procedures and later expanding into other services. HCCI’s medical teams, who treated patients from 60 countries just in 2016, champion innovation and have scored notable firsts in the region. HCCI became the first hospital in the English-speaking Caribbean to use robotic navigation for joint replacements and the first to install two artificial hearts or left ventricle assist devices.
“Most importantly, true to our Mission and our goals for the partnership, HCCI has provided free surgeries and procedures for more than 200 children from Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and other countries who otherwise could not afford treatment,” Dr. Tersigni said. Most recently, HCCI sent staff to neighboring islands hit by this season’s hurricanes to provide needed medical care.
“The commendable performance of this facility underpins the success our differentiated business model even in unexplored international territories like Caribbean Islands,” Dr. Shetty said. “We remain confident about the prospects of this facility in terms of attracting international patients from the neighbouring islands in need of care.
“We greatly appreciate Ascension’s support over the past five years as together we brought world-class healthcare to the Caribbean region,” Dr. Shetty added. “Ascension has been a valued partner in this project, and our organizations have learned much from each other.”
“Consistent with our goal of learning potential new approaches from the Narayana team, earlier this year two Ascension cardiology experts traveled to HCCI to discuss and share evidence-based practices, protocols and information with their clinical counterparts,” Doyle said. “And early in 2017 doctors from a top sports medicine and orthopedics practice affiliated with Ascension went to HCCI to explore a potential orthopedic surgical and research collaboration. In addition, Ascension has examined how to adapt the innovative construction techniques and facility systems used in the building of HCCI to our own facilities. In total, our partnership with Narayana Health has been invaluable in helping Ascension advance our vision of transforming healthcare.”
