Duke LifePoint Eyes Michigan's Upper Peninsula

"The focus of Marquette General will continue to be on patients in the Upper Peninsula so they are able to receive quality care close to home. The Duke LifePoint partnership will enhance that.  I don't think of it as being in competition with anybody. I see it strengthening community-based care in the Upper Peninsula."

Carpenter believes that hospitals across the nation are in the same situation as MGHS and could be ready for a new business model.

"They are considering how they will respond to the significant financial pressures that they feel based on the lingering effects of the recession, based on the reductions in reimbursements that are facing us, [and] based on the very challenging regulatory environment that faces all of us, the cost of technology and capital improvements," Carpenter said.

"LifePoint and Duke LifePoint are perfectly aligned with the interests of local community hospitals in dealing with that because we bring resources designed to improve quality of care and designed to provide state-of-the-art technology and make capital investments in community hospitals," he says. "It is a great match."