EDMONDS — Stevens Hospital’s 47-year history as an independent public hospital has come to a close, beginning a new chapter with a new name, Swedish/Edmonds.
Seattle-based Swedish Health Services took over management of the hospital on Wednesday. The new Swedish name and logo have been installed near the top of the hospital.
Don’t look for any big changes in the coming days, but do look for more services to be offered at the hospital in the coming months and years, representatives of the two organizations say.
These include up to $400,000 in “spruce up” improvements to its mother-baby unit yet this year, and offering more medical specialty services, such as allergists, endocrinologists, kidney specialists, and doctors who specialize in the health issues of aging adults, said Mike Carter, Stevens’ former chief executive who stays on at the hospital as a Swedish senior vice president.
In addition, Swedish is reviewing whether to build a new $60 million emergency room and intensive care unit at the Edmonds campus.
“I think the way we should judge this affiliation is by the increase in services that are here, the quality of services that are here and access to (health) services in south Snohomish County,” said Dr. Rodney Hochman, Swedish’s chief executive officer.
The management agreement with Swedish was formally approved in February and the deal received state approval in August.
The groundbreaking agreement is thought to be the only one of its type in Washington, linking a public hospital district with one of the state’s largest health care providers.
Swedish is leasing the Edmonds hospital, making $600,000 in monthly payments to the public hospital district. These payments will increase 3 percent each year for the 30 years of the agreement.
It also pledged to make a substantial investment in the Edmonds hospital, $90 million in general investments over the next decade and $60 million in building improvements and expansion.
The five-member Stevens Hospital board will now switch roles, overseeing the money paid to the public hospital district through Swedish’s lease payments, public hospital district taxes and other income.
The name of the new organization the board will oversee is the South Snohomish County Commission for Health. Similar to a foundation, its goal is to offer new health care services. Although the specific programs haven’t yet been decided, they could include efforts to battle childhood obesity, prenatal services, expanded mental health services, and basic health services for the uninsured.
Its budget hasn’t yet been set, but could be about $4 million to $6 million a year, said Howard Thomas, a consultant who has been appointed as the organization’s temporary administrator.
“We want to try to spread the funding across as many programs and touch as many people as possible,” Thomas said.
The organization’s new website has been launched. It includes an online survey asking the public for its opinions on which types of health services to fund.
Hiring a permanent administrator to head the organization will be one of its first tasks, Thomas said.
Swedish’s agreement to manage the Edmonds hospital is the second major move made by the nonprofit health care organization in Snohomish County this year.
In January, it announced that a three-story, $30 million medical building, including a satellite emergency room operated by Swedish Health Services, will be built in south Everett near the intersection of I-5 and 128th Street SE.
The building, called Swedish/Mill Creek, is scheduled to open in mid-February.
Swedish is building a similar stand-alone emergency room in Redmond near the Microsoft campus, expected to open by year’s end.
Swedish operates three hospitals in Seattle and is opening a fourth in Issaquah, key pieces of a health care group that also include 40 specialty and primary care clinics and a visiting nurse service that operates in Snohomish and King counties.
The new 175-bed hospital in the Issaquah area will open in stages, beginning in July.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
For more information
For more information on the new South Snohomish County Commission for Health, go to www.ssccfh.org, call 425-640-4831 or e-mail superintendent@ssccfh.org.
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