Sharon Salyer’s article about the proposed merger of the Everett Clinic with DaVita Health Systems was very interesting. Mr. Cooper indicated that the merger would not result in any changes for current Everett Clinic patients. He is quoted that it will be “business as usual” after the merger.
While I understand that the Everett Clinic is a private corporation that has complete rights to merge with anyone it pleases, the clinic also has a public mission to provide the best possible care to the people of Everett and Snohomish County. Cooper made no reference to highlight any improvements to individual patient care that would occur as a result of the merger. In fact, he stated that there would be no changes to how care was delivered. He did say that the merger would allow the clinic to double its size by 2020. Building new clinics and adding patients in other towns does nothing to improve the level of care for an individual patient who seeks care in Mukilteo, for example. The expansion does increase the level of profits for the business, but those profits will benefit the new owners while doing nothing to help this community.
Since the merger will do nothing to improve the level of care for existing patients and the clinic is currently in excellent financial condition, there is only one reason why a merger should occur. The reason has to be for financial gain. While financial gain is a good reason to merge, it does nothing to fulfill the public mission of the clinic, which is to improve the delivery of care for individual patients.
I have seen this phenomena before. Prior to retirement, I was the vice president for clinic administration at Northwest Hospital in Seattle. We were approached by several publicly traded companies that wanted to merge. After completing our analysis, we determined that such mergers would have allowed us to expand our service area, but it would do nothing to improve the level of care we were providing our patients. Bigger is not always better. After I retired, Northwest did merge with the University of Washington system, allowing the hospital to be part of one the country’s leading teaching hospitals. The patient care benefits are obvious.
I am proud to say that I am currently a well-cared-for patient of the Everett Clinic. But I am sad to hear that this momentous change will not result in any improvements to the care I receive in my current clinic. “Business as usual” is not good enough.
Bruce Pearson
Everett
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