Marquette Internal Medicine and Pediatric Associates signs letter of intent to join Marshfield Medical Center-Dickinson

UPPER MICHIGAN (WLUC) - Marquette County residents will soon have expanded options for health care.

Marquette Internal Medicine and Pediatric Associates will likely look a little different in the coming months.

The office in the Peninsula Medical Center has signed a letter of intent to join Marshfield Medical Center-Dickinson. The agreement would expand Marshfield’s services in the U.P. Marshfield entered the U.P. when it bought the hospital in Iron Mountain in 2021.

“A letter of intent is the first step in formally partnering in any type of business deal, so we have been working behind the scenes over the past months with MIMPA, all of the practitioners there and the team and we entered this letter of intent at the end of last week,” Marshfield Medical Center-Dickinson Interim President Mandy Shelast said.

Shelast says expanding into Marquette is another way it can help U.P. residents.

“It’s really important to us to provide care to the people of the U.P., we deserve affordable, cost-effective care we live in a rural market, and we think that should be outside the Dickinson area, we believe that should be for the whole U.P.,” Shelast said.

Shelast says it will look to expand beyond this project in the Marquette area in the future, but no plans are currently solidified.

The president of the practice says this agreement will not change the care provided.

“Our current patients won’t notice any differences in the short term, so they will continue to be able to come in and see us for all the services we provide for physicals, for their sick visits, for their laboratory studies, basically that won’t change,” Marquette Internal Medicine and Pediatric Associates President Dr. John Bartlett said.

Dr. Bartlett says through the partnership, services and availability will expand.

“We hope to have more space, to be more efficient with the services we have, and we’re looking at other opportunities for specialties to bring on too,” Bartlett said.

Both Marshfield and Marquette Internal Medicine says the agreement will be finalized on March 1.

Last published: Jan 17, 2023 1:12:23 PM

UPPER MICHIGAN (WLUC) - Marquette Internal Medicine and Pediatric Associates (MIMPA), and Marshfield Medical Center-Dickinson have signed a Letter of Intent for the Marquette-based clinic to join Marshfield.

The agreement brings Marquette’s most prominent independent healthcare provider practice together with Marshfield to continue to provide the needed Primary Care, Internal Medicine, Pediatric, and Neurological clinical services to the residents of the Upper Peninsula.

“This is a fantastic development for our team and the local community,” said John P. Bartlett, MD, president of Marquette Internal Medicine and Pediatric Associates. “Our shared commitment to delivering top-quality patient-centered care, where and when needed, is why we chose Marshfield as a partner. The collaboration allows us to continue to provide the personal level of care that our patients are accustomed to while also receiving the additional resources and support needed to navigate today’s somewhat volatile healthcare landscape.”

According to a press release from Marshfield Medical Center-Dickinson, the partnership will focus on continuing to deliver expert clinical care in the Marquette area while also exploring future growth of services within the region. Mandy Shelast, interim president of Marshfield Medical Center-Dickinson, said, “We are excited to welcome the Marquette Internal Medicine and Pediatric Associates (MIMPA) staff to the Marshfield team. MIMPA has an excellent reputation for providing exceptional, compassionate care to the residents of Marquette; we look forward to continuing that tradition of caring for the local community. Marshfield is excited to extend care into Marquette, and we could not have a better partner in this venture than MIMPA to help us grow our presence in Michigan.”

The next step is for the organizations to develop a definitive operating agreement, with an anticipated completion date at the end of January. The final closing would occur in March.

Marquette Internal Medicine & Pediatric Associates (MIMPA) has provided primary care services in Marquette, MI, for over 50 years. The MIMPA provider team consists of fifteen board-certified Physicians, Physician Assistants, and Nurse Practitioners. The full scope of clinical services provided includes; Primary Care, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Neurology, and on-site Laboratory services. It is the most extensive independent healthcare provider practice in Marquette, MI, emphasizing top-quality, personalized care. Marquette Internal Medicine and Pediatric Associates Marshfield Medical Center-Dickinson is a 49-bed general medical and surgical hospital in Iron Mountain, Michigan. The hospital serves communities in Michigan’s central Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin. It has over 70 providers on staff and more than 700 employees, providing a broad range of high-quality acute care, including inpatient, outpatient, diagnostic, and specialty services. It also has primary care clinics in Iron Mountain, Kingsford, and Norway, Michigan, and Florence, Wisconsin.

Marshfield Medical Center-Dickinson Marquette Internal Medicine & Pediatric Associates (MIMPA) includes:

• Susan V. Balmer, MD; Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

• John P. Bartlett, MD; Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

• Rachael Bartlett, PA-C; Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

• Kaitlyn Joyce, DO; Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

• Katherine King, PA-C; Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

• Kyle King, PA-C; Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

• Tonia Kroll, NP; Neurology

• Nicole Nolan, PA-C; Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

• Ashley Parent, MD; Internal Medicine

• Liz Peppin, PA-C; Neurology

• Scott Poirier, PA-C; Neurology

• Roman Politi, MD; Neurology

• Cassie Sundberg, PA-C; Internal Medicine

• Nichol Trejo, NP; Internal Medicine and Pediatrics

• Alisha Wasilewski, PA-C; Neurology

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