Strevens Hospital is negotiating to join Swedish or Providence medical centers

EDMONDS — Stevens Hospital has narrowed its choice of potential business partners to two — Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center and Providence Health &Services.

The names of the organizations that are negotiating with the Edmonds hospital were publicly disclosed for the first time during a meeting this week with Howard Thomas, a consultant hired by the hospital’s board to conduct talks with interested health care groups.

Thomas said a formal proposal on a business agreement could be brought to the Stevens Hospital board before the end of the year.

Providence Health &Services, a Roman Catholic health care organization, owns a string of West Coast hospitals, including Providence Regional Medical Center Everett in Snohomish County,

What’s being considered is having Stevens lease all its facilities and equipment to another health care organization, which also would take over the hospital’s existing services, Thomas said. The lease would be for 20 to 30 years, with options for extending the agreement, Thomas said.

The hospital district would continue to own its facilities and equipment and receive lease payments.

The public would continue to have say-so in the hospital’s operations through joint planning committees, policies on charity care and ensuring that hospital services are properly funded and maintained, Thomas said.

Stevens would receive lease payments and keep existing cash, allowing the hospital to move ahead with projects, he said.

“I intend to bring the final proposal back to you in the coming weeks from potential partners,” Thomas told board members on Wednesday.

Board member Fred Langer said that he supports talks with other health care organizations, but “labor harmony is extremely important for any sort of affiliation.”

Langer said that the hospital’s current strong financial standing puts it in a good position to negotiate with other organizations.

The hospital earned $5 million in overall profit last year, the best financial report from the taxpayer-supported hospital in 14 years.

“I think we’re an extremely attractive partner for either of the candidates,” Langer said. “This is not a giveaway, a fire sale. This is an affiliation that makes sense for everyone.”

Thomas noted that the health care industry is undergoing a wave of consolidations, including one recently announced between Seattle’s Northwest Hospital and UW Medicine.

Langer said that with the capital another organization could bring to Stevens, the hospital might be able to fill some of the current health care gaps in Snohomish County.

For example, budget cuts forced the Snohomish Health District to close its sexually transmitted disease clinic. And the slumping economy forced Providence Hospice and Homecare of Snohomish County to shelve plans for a $10 million inpatient hospice center in January.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the hospital district,” Langer said.

Stevens already has a long-standing relationship with Swedish Medical Center.

The Seattle-based health care organization has 13 employees working at its cancer center and 24 employees at its heart center.

Last fall, Stevens began talks with Swedish on a more formal business partnership between the two organizations.

In April, however, both organizations said they felt more work needed to be done before any formal agreement was completed.

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486, salyer@heraldnet.com.

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