Hospital seeks to expand health care, cut costs

Elmore Medical Center expects to begin exploring soon possible "affiliations" with other health-care groups that would either expand services at the hospital or improve its efficiency in providing services.

The hospital already is involved in several affiliations. It's had a management contract with St. Luke's since 2006 and is part of a consortium of health-care providers in the region to purchase supplies, the bulk purchases helping keep costs down.

But hospital administrator Greg Mauer is concerned about "what we're seeing on the horizon" for the future of health care, which combined with a reduction in reimbursements from federal and state sources, "means we've got to become more efficient, and we want to look at ways to do that."

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