LRMC and Coalfield Health announce new partnership to expand care, lower prescription costs

A new partnership between Logan Regional Medical Center and Coalfield Health will expand access to primary care and lower prescription medication costs for patients.

Shana Nelson | WVOW News

LOGAN  Logan Regional Medical Center and Coalfield Health have announced a new partnership aimed at expanding access to primary care services while helping patients save money on prescription medications.

On this week's edition of "LRMC and You" on WVOW, Logan Regional Medical Center CEO Justin Turner and Coalfield Health CEO Brent Tomblin discussed the collaboration that officially begins Friday, May 1.

Logan Regional Medical Center CEO Justin Turner and Coalfield Health CEO Brent Tomblin joined WVOW's Aaron Stone on the latest edition of "LRMC and You."

“In healthcare today and the environment we’re in, we have to have partnerships,” Turner said. “Working together, especially in our rural areas, and that’s where this was birthed, really.”

Under the strategic partnership, Logan Regional Medical Center’s primary care offices will transition into the Coalfield Health network. Patients will continue seeing the same providers in the same familiar locations, with one office relocating elsewhere on the hospital campus.

Logan Cardiology Associates and Logan Primary Care are swapping locations. These buildings are both on the hospital campus, ensuring that patients have the same convenience when seeing their providers.

Turner emphasized that while day-to-day care will remain the same for patients, one of the biggest benefits will be lower medication costs through Coalfield Health’s access to 340B drug pricing.

Coalfield Health operates as a Federally Qualified Health Center, or FQHC, a federal designation designed to help underserved and underinsured populations. Tomblin said that designation allows Coalfield Health to provide care to uninsured patients at lower costs while also offering reduced prescription pricing. To him, this partnership with LRMC is important in the usually competitive healthcare field.

“The landscape of healthcare is ever changing, and it's certainly becoming more competitive,” Tomblin said. “Whenever you're trying to take care of the patients and the community that you serve, I think that you need to take more of a handholding approach and working together instead of looking for resources that you’re going to compete over.”

Tomblin noted that creating the partnership required navigating several regulatory challenges because Logan Regional Medical Center operates as a for-profit entity while Coalfield Health is a nonprofit organization. Despite those hurdles, both CEOs said the result is a stronger healthcare system for southern West Virginia and parts of eastern Kentucky.

Turner called the agreement a significant announcement for the region, saying that both organizations share a commitment to keeping healthcare services available for years to come.

“Our heart’s in this,” Turner said. “It's not just a job for us, because our families use our facilities, and we want it to be available for a long, long time.”

PHOTO | WVOW Radio, Logan Regional Medical Center