DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Affinitas Health, a new, clinician-led emergency and hospital medicine management services company announced its launch this week. The firm will focus on serving hospital emergency departments (ED) and hospitalist programs across the country.
Founders Dr. Eugene Gicheru, CEO, and Dr. Lawrence Bean, President, were inspired to create Affinitas when they saw existing staffing firms were not meeting the needs of facilities seeking a true partner as opposed to a more transactional corporate vendor. These needs are especially apparent for the nearly 3,100 stand-alone and low-volume regional and rural hospitals across the United States.
“Groups that were once there to serve these segments with quite specific challenges, and whose business models were geared toward these kind of facilities, are being merged into much larger firms whose models don’t fit their needs,” said Dr. Bean. “Given the recent consolidation, we see an opportunity to deliver a more personalized, hands-on level of service than the major national firms can provide.”
Prior to founding Affinitas, experienced board-certified ED physicians, Dr. Gicheru and Dr. Bean have partnered repeatedly to transform hospital EDs and urgent care clinics across the country into high-functioning, high-performing care settings. They attribute their track record to their nimble structure, focus on people, and experience leading clinicians.
“We were always called to address ED and clinic performance problems, and invariably the root of those problems boiled down to organizational culture issues such as poor relations with community providers, unstable team dynamics, disjointed communication, and weak medical leadership. When we fixed those, performance improved,” said Dr. Gicheru.
“I’ve worked my whole career in healthcare and I’ve never run across physicians with a better understanding of how to transform an ED, they approach it from the ground up starting with people and working on process.” said Michael Pittman, former Chief Operating Officer at Baylor Scott & White Brenham during Dr. Gicheru's and Dr. Bean’s tenure there. “For them an ED is a complex organism, but it is run at the end of the day by people. They know what makes them tick and work well together in that unique setting.”
That focus on people is what drives Affinitas’ mission, which is to create a network of clinician-driven practices committed to empowering and enriching the lives of the patients, co-workers, and communities they serve. To achieve this mission, Dr. Gicheru and Dr. Bean assembled a team of trusted colleagues who are exemplary clinician leaders and share their people-first, service-leadership philosophy.
This team comprises experienced healthcare leader Cory L. Carter as Chief Operating Officer; Advanced Practice Provider leadership expert Darrel Morrison, RN, FNP-BC, CEN as the Chief Nursing Officer; and filling the roles of Chief Medical Officer and Regional Medical Director, respectively, are outstanding emergency medicine physician leaders Oscar J. Martinez, MD, FACEP, and Javier Caldera, MD, FACEP. Hospital medicine leadership expert Troy Martin, MD, has joined as hospitalist Chief Medical Officer, and leadership and communication expert Ryan Parker, MD, FACEP, rounds out the clinical leadership team as Chief Patient Experience Officer.
Dr. Gicheru and Dr. Bean are thrilled to work with long-time colleagues and friends to serve hospitals and health systems across the country.
“We focus on helping and serving each other every day, at every interaction- it is all about mutuality,” said Dr. Bean. “We work with hospital leaders to align with their goals. We own whatever their concerns and vision are, and take that on as ours as well.”
“What excites me most about Affinitas is the way we’re going about transforming the delivery of healthcare,” said Dr. Gicheru.
About Affinitas Health
Affinitas Health is an emergency and hospital medicine management services company that serves healthcare facilities across the United States. We take a genuine, people-centric approach to transform each practice we serve. Our founders are experienced clinicians who have worked together in a variety of clinical environments. We have united because we firmly believe — and our methods prove — that healthcare doesn’t have to be transactional. By creating a network of like-minded clinician groups across the country, we aim to change healthcare for the better, one program at a time. Learn more at affinitashealth.com or call 866.225.0350 ext. 703.
