

Apr 15 2024
Growing Key Services: Physician Alignment


Summary
Partnerships with independent physician groups are key to continuing to provide the highest quality care for our patients.
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A partnership between North Mississippi Health Services and Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi (CANM) over the years has resulted in access to leading-edge cardiac technology and medical treatments for our patients. This is particularly important because heart disease is so prevalent in our region.
Many people don’t realize that only about half of the physicians in our service area are employed by NMHS and the other half are in independent practices like Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi. Partnering with independent practices in various ways is key to being able to advance care for our patients. Our partnership with the physicians at CANM is a great example of the benefits of alignment between an independent physician group and a health system. Cardiology Associates is a private practice that has 20 cardiology specialists, and they are a leader in advancing cardiology care through clinical research. These doctors have brought effective, cutting-edge treatments to our patients.
Our partnership with CANM means that all of our specialists with the cardiovascular program, whether they are employed by NMHS or independent, work together to provide high quality care. NMMC-Tupelo is known as a cardiovascular center for excellence because of the wide range of heart and vascular services provided here – from cardiology, electrophysiology, cardiothoracic surgery and vascular surgery. Those services, plus the cutting-edge research performed here that is possible because of our strong relationship with CANM, has given patients in our region access to technology years before it is available elsewhere.
The decades-long relationship between NMHS and CANM is evolving to become even stronger. We continue to support research and superior services, but we are also looking at how to grow together and expand cardiovascular services into more of our communities.
Cardiovascular disease affects nearly 50% of Mississippians, so we know we need to be in more communities, closer to where our patients live, to provide diagnosis and treatment early, which ultimately helps us save lives and leads to better health.
Our partnership has also allowed us to create dedicated space in our hospital for cardiac care, so our team members are able to specialize in these advanced services, which makes their careers more fulfilling and improves the care they provide.
Our goal is to continue to build alignments with other physician groups, like we have with CANM, that will allow us to provide access to more specialties in more locations, so we can continue to improve the health of the people in our region.
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Shane Spees
Michael “Shane” Spees is the president and chief executive officer of North Mississippi Health Services (NMHS). Before joining NMHS, he served as president and CEO for Baptist Health System in Birmingham, Alabama; president of Valley Baptist Hospital Holdings Inc., which serves the Rio Grande Valley in Texas; senior vice president and CEO of Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas, and held several leadership roles within the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, which serves the greater Houston area and much of Southeast Texas.
He received his master's degree in health care administration from the University of Houston at Clear Lake, a bachelor of public administration from University of Mississippi and a juris doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law. He was admitted to the Mississippi Bar in 1995.

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