Lee Memorial Health System will dissolve a partnership with a provider and begin to fully manage and operate its outpatient Radiology Diagnostics Centers.
This decision has resulted in a dissolution of Lee Medical Resources, a partnership between LMHS and Medical Resources, Inc., a New Jersey-based company.
The new arrangement, effective July 31, is made in an effort to streamline patient care services and make better use of the health system’s resources, officials said Monday.
“The system has grown quite a bit during the past decade. As a result, we are now able to manage and operate these centers in-house, which is in line with the cost-savings initiatives we launched in 2008 due to the struggling economy,” said David Cato, system director of Outpatient Services for LMHS, in a prepared statement,
Radiology diagnostics includes services such as ultrasounds, X-rays, CT scans and MRIs. CT scans, or computed tomography, use special X-ray equipment to provide images of multiple internal areas of the body, which are displayed on a computer screen. MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, enables health care workers to use radiofrequency waves to view detailed images of the internal body structure, including organs, soft tissues and bones.
LMHS will assume full management and operation July 1 of the MRI Centers at Cape Coral Hospital, HealthPark Medical Center and Lee Memorial Hospital, as well as the HealthPark Commons Outpatient Diagnostics Center. The system will assume full management and operation of the MRI and Diagnostics Center at the Outpatient Center at Riverwalk Aug. 1.
Although patients will not notice a change in services, they will benefit from the change in operation, Cato said. As LMHS is now the direct provider of Radiology Diagnostics services, patients’ test results will go directly into their files within the health system.
“This will really provide physicians, nurses and other health care workers with seamless access to patient information, eliminating possible delays while they are providing care,” he said.
“Keeping these test results within the system is also a step in the right direction as we prepare to create a system-wide Electronic Medical Record in the future,” he added.
According to the agreement that established Lee Medical Resources in 1998, Medical Resources was responsible for managing and operating the outpatient MRI and Diagnostics Centers at Cape Coral Hospital, HealthPark Medical Center and Lee Memorial Hospital, as well as HealthPark Commons and the Outpatient Center at Riverwalk. In exchange, Medical Resources received a management fee from LMHS and a majority of the net income from the labs.
Medical Resources was informed in January that Lee Medical Resources would be dissolved, according to Cato.
LMHS will have 55 employees at all locations. The 63 Medical Resources employees will be given first preference, although they will have to complete the standard interview process in compliance with LMHS’ hiring policies.

Source: Lee Memorial Health System