Health Care at Home — Marquette General

Marquette General is the U.P.’s largest health system, with 2,600 employees and 200 physicians.

It’s the first u–p hospital to receive a new type of linear accelerator.

The linear accelerator treats cancer patients about 75% faster than previous equipment, and with more precision.

Dr. Ken Chu, Marquette General’s chief medical physicist, says it’s getting a lot of work since it came online two months ago.

He says winter is usually the slow time of year for their radiation oncology department, but not anymore.

Several weeks ago, Marquette General was also recognized as a national breast cancer center of excellence.

The American College of Radiology uses the honor as a guide for patients.

Breast imaging radiologist Dr. Heidi Henry says the breast imaging team at Marquette General is the best one she’s ever been part of.

However, there are still some major medical specialties that can’t be found at Marquette General, like treatment of major burns, transplants and pediatric intensive care or high-level pediatric surgical services.

Superior Health Partners is creating closer relationships between the U.P. hospitals that are part of the group.

But access to services isn’t the only reason patients might be leaving the U.P.

Marquette General CEO Gary Muller says customer care is just as important.

He says one of the goals of Superior Health Partners is to make the member hospitals destinations for people to come to from outside their immediate coverage areas.

Muller says that’s where an upstream partner would help, providing an infusion of capital investment to improve treatment options and customer service, without an ownership change.

At the moment, MGHS is searching for an agency with which to partner.

Posted by: Mike Hoey