Porter, La Porte, and Starke hospitals and their affiliated physician and medical offices will operate under the name Northwest Health.
In a Sept. 30 announcement, health system representatives said Northwest Health combines the resources of the Porter, La Porte, and Starke hospitals “in a comprehensive system of in-person and telehealth services in more than 30 primary and specialty locations across the (Region).”
“For the past five years, our organizations have worked together to leverage our expertise and resources,” said Sean Dardeau, market CEO of Northwest Health. “By formally combining into a regional healthcare system, we will be able to use our size and shared resources to add more physicians, expand services, and further improve access to care for Northwest Indiana residents.”
The new health system name comes less than a month before the opening of the new $125 million La Porte Hospital, which will be called Northwest Health – La Porte. The new hospital is set to open Oct. 24.
Northwest Health includes 30 physician office locations, five emergency departments, six urgent cares, three outpatient surgery centers, occupational medicine centers, an ambulance service, and an inpatient rehabilitation unit – and telehealth services. It employs more than 3,000 people including 700 physicians on the hospitals’ medical staffs.
Northwest Health also includes:
- Northwest Health – Porter, formerly known as Porter Regional Hospital, Valparaiso
- Northwest Health – Starke, formerly known as Starke Hospital
- Northwest Medical Group, which combines La Porte Physician Network and Porter Physician Group
- Northwest Health Urgent Care, formerly known as either CareEXPRESS Urgent Care or La Porte Physician Network Urgent Care
All programs and services of Porter, La Porte and Starke hospitals are also part of Northwest Health, system representatives said. The ownership and leadership at the hospitals are not changing.
In 2019, the combined providers cared for more than 17,000 inpatients, 85,000 emergency patients and 430,000 outpatient visits, and nearly 400,000 patients visited physician offices in person or virtually.
Porter, La Porte, and Starke hospitals are affiliated with Community Health Systems of Franklin, Tennessee.
Community Health Systems operates 118 hospitals across 20 states, including several in Indiana.
