Banner Health


Banner Health is a non-profit health system in the United States, based in Phoenix, Arizona. It operates 28 hospitals and several specialized facilities across 6 states. The health system is the largest employer in Arizona and one of the largest in the United States with over 50,000 employees.
The organization provides emergency and hospital care, hospice, long-term/home care, outpatient surgery, labs, rehabilitation services, pharmacies, and primary care. In early 2018, it reported assets of $11.6 billion and revenues of $7.8 billion for the previous year.
Banner Health was created in 1999 through a merger between Lutheran Health Systems, based in North Dakota, and Samaritan Health System, based in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2001, Banner sold its operations in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota, and made its sole headquarters in Phoenix.
Banner also operates a Medicare Advantage insurance plan in the valley referred to as University Care Advantage and an AHCCCS plan referred to as Banner University Family Care.
Banner Health has partnered with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of the original three comprehensive cancer centers in the United States established by the National Cancer Act of 1971, and has built a $90 million cancer center in Gilbert, Arizona.

History

In 1999, two nonprofit entities Samaritan Health System and Lutheran Health Systems merged, forming Banner Health. At the time the entity operated in 14 states and had around 22,000 employees.
In 2005, Banner closes the former Mesa Lutheran hospital and later converts it to office space at a cost of around $100 million.
In 2006 Banner Health launched a telemedicine program. The health system determined the telemonitoring saved 34,000 ICU days and close to 2,000 lives in 2013 based on APACHE II predicted length of stay and mortality rates.
In October 2006 Banner acquires the assets and staff, including 40 providers of Big Thompson Medical Medical Group in Loveland, Colorado.
In 2008, Banner Health selects Nextgen Healthcare as its partner for ambulatory EHR medical records at all of its outpatient facilities.
In October 2008, Banner acquires large specialty group "Arizona Medical Clinic" in the west valley and renames this entity Banner Arizona Medical Clinic.
In August 2012, Banner embarks on a plan to rename and harmonize the names of its acquired medical clinics organized under Banner Medical Group. Clinics are renamed according to specialty across the entire system
In February 2014, Banner acquires Casa Grande Medical Center in Casa Grande, AZ
In June 2014, the University of Arizona and Banner Health launch merger pending Arizona Board of Regents approval to combine operations
In 2015, Banner relocates its headquarters from the Banner Good Samaritan Hospital campus to a tower at Central and Thomas Roads in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona.
In 2015, Banner signs an agreement with Cerner to move all of its facilities including the clinics formerly on Nextgen to Cerner EHR. The move is to take place over the next few years and also includes staff sharing between Banner and Cerner to execute on the implementation.
In 2016, the Arizona Board of Regents approved a merger between Banner Health and the University of Arizona Health Network. This new Banner division, Banner - University Medicine and its employed physician group, Banner - University Medical Group brought Banner Health into the forefront of academic medicine. As part of the deal, the former University of Arizona Medical Center and University of Arizona Medical Center - South Campus, in Tucson, AZ, were renamed Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and Banner – University Medical Center South, respectively. Banner Good Samaritan hospital in Phoenix was also renamed, to Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, to reflect its new designation as the primary teaching hospital of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. To upgrade the aging infrastructure of all of these facilities, Banner Health pledged nearly $1.5 billion to several major construction projects in Phoenix and Tucson that are currently ongoing.
In August 2016, Banner Health acquires the assets and staff of Urgent Care Extra's 32 Arizona urgent care facilities and expects to grow the urgent care footprint to 50 clinics by 2017.
2016 also saw Banner Health fall victim to a cyberattack and data breach that may have put the information of up to three million patients and employees at risk. This led to a class-action lawsuit which was settled in 2020. According to HIPAA Journal, this breach was the largest of any health care concern in 2016.
In April 2018, Banner submitted to an $18mil fine relating to billing and operational abnormalities relating to billing government programs for services
In June 2018, Banner completes the transition of the Tucson medical facilities conversion from Epic Systems EHR to the EHR used at their other entities, Cerner. The conversion was noted as challenging for the staff involved and to have cost approximately $45 million.
In July 2020, Wyoming Medical Center agreed to join Banner Health.

Locations

Banner - University Medical Center Phoenix

Banner - University Medical Center Phoenix is located immediately northeast of downtown Phoenix and is one of the flagship facilities of Banner Health. It is one of three university hospitals operated by Banner Health in conjunction with the University of Arizona Colleges of Medicine in Phoenix and Tucson, with Banner - University Medical Center Tucson and Banner - University Medical Center South being the other two such facilities.

History

Lulu Clifton, a Deaconess in the Methodist Church from Nebraska, arrived in Phoenix in 1900, against her doctor's advice, to recover from tuberculosis. As she recovered, Clifton saw a need for a hospital in the growing desert town. Clifton, with the help of other prominent Methodists, founded the Arizona Deaconess Hospital in 1911 in a rented apartment building in downtown Phoenix and started a nurse training program. In 1917, the group acquired land on McDowell Road and 10th Street for a permanent hospital structure which, after construction was delayed during World War I, opened to the public in 1923. The modern complex sits on the site to this day. The hospital's name was changed to Good Samaritan Hospital in 1928. In 1978, Good Samaritan broke ground for a 12-story, 720 bed hospital tower which opened in 1982. This tower, designed by noted Chicago architect Bertrand Goldberg, featured his signature ultra-modern architecture, making the tower a Phoenix architectural icon. The expansion also made Good Samaritan the largest hospital in Arizona to date.
New construction
Banner will invest nearly $1 billion in new clinics and hospital towers in Tucson and Phoenix. Those projects include a $179 million emergency department scheduled to open July 2017, a $239 million patient tower set to open in late 2018, and a $50 million clinical space near the existing BUMCP facility. The 700,000-sq.-ft. Emergency Department and patient tower expansion project includes a three-story podium that accommodates the emergency department relocation, new observation space on the first floor, and new operating rooms and administration on the second floor. The 13-story patient tower will house 256 patient beds as well as two shell floors for future build-out.

Teaching

The medical center hosts 3rd and 4th year medical students from its major affiliated medical school, the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix. It is also home to several residency training programs sponsored by the College of Medicine. These include , , , , , , , , and . A number of fellowship programs are also sponsored. In total, over 300 residents and fellows are based at the facility.

Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center

Banner Health partnered with The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, consistently one of the two highest-ranked cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, to build a $100 million cancer center in Gilbert, Arizona at Banner Gateway Medical Center. This facility opened in 2011 and offers outpatient services, including radiation treatment, diagnostic imaging, infusion therapy, cancer-specific clinics and support services. Banner Gateway provides inpatient care such as surgery, interventional radiology, and stem cell transplantation. In March 2014, a 103,000 square feet, $62 million expansion was completed to increase clinic space, infusion bays and radiation oncology facilities. Patients at Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center receive care based on the same protocols and practice standards provided at MD Anderson and benefit from integration with MD Anderson specialists in Houston. The new facilities were designed in collaboration with MD Anderson experts, ensuring state of the art equipment and treatment capabilities are in place. MD Anderson provides clinical direction for the cancer center which is the broadest extension of its services outside Houston.

Location List

Banner Health operates 28 hospitals, mostly in the Western United States. These facilities can be found in six states:
The following comprise the senior leadership of Banner Health as of August, 2018: