In 2016, Michigan Medicine and Metro Health joined forces under an affiliation agreement. This partnership was a critical part of Michigan Medicine’s strategic priority of improving the value of care for patients and serving 3.5 million lives statewide.
The affiliation provides the west Michigan community access to the highest level of care where they live. It also enables Metro Health to further expand its research capabilities, primary care and specialty services, as well as use of complex medical technology.
But the collaboration doesn’t stop there. Recently, Metro Health reached out to the organization with a request to help them improve their transfer process with community hospitals — enabling them to provide better care for stroke and emergency patients, as well as the inpatient population.
In stepped M-LINE, Michigan Medicine’s referring physician 800 number.
M-LINE is a toll-free number for referring physicians to schedule appointments, speak to U-M providers, transfer patients and request patient information. M-LINE is available 24/7 and handles nearly 100,000 calls annually by 13,000 providers across Michigan and northern Ohio.
M-LINE and the Physician Relations and Outreach team is part of the Office of Patient Experience and they are uniquely suited to support Metro Health.