EDMONDS
Stevens Hospital board members have debated the hospital’s future for the past year.
Should it continue to operate as it has been since it opened 45 years ago, as an independent, taxpayer-supported, community hospital?
Should it seek out a business partnership with another health care organization, which could help it pay for new or expanded services?
Should the hospital be leased, or even sold, to another organization?
Now, the hospital board has moved one step closer to a decision, giving consultant Howard Thomas the go-ahead to talk to other health care organizations about potential business partnerships.
There’s no deadline for how long the talks can take, but the work could result in a business affiliation with one or more health care organizations, said Jack Kirkman, a Stevens vice president.
The hospital is talking to up to five organizations, he said. Confidentiality agreements prevent the hospital from disclosing which health care groups are involved, he said.
More information will be available to the public when specific proposals are received, Kirkman said.
The decision to move ahead with talks on potential business agreements was approved by four of the five hospital board members.
The one board member who dissented, Deana Knutsen, said she was concerned that potential business agreements could result in the board losing direct oversight of the hospital’s operations.
“They’re proposing something that’s far-reaching and I can’t come to the public and say what,” she said. That’s because of the confidentiality agreements that are now part of the talks.
Board member Bob Meador said that questions about the hospital’s future arose several years ago, when architects estimated that it would cost about $400 million to build a new hospital.
As board members considered how to pay for this, or even for a smaller project to build a new $40 million emergency room, they began looking at how to pay for necessary improvements other than simply asking taxpayers to approve a tax increase.
The last hospital bond levy voters approved, for $25 million, was in 1991. That tax is now at 8 cents for every $1,000 of assessed property valuation. The hospital’s maintenance and operations levy, last approved in 1998, is now at 7.8 cents per every $1,000 of assessed property valuation.
Altogether, that’s about $44 annually for the owner of a $285,000 home, which is the county’s median home price.
Alternatives to tax increases for paying for improvements include forming a business agreement with one or more health care organizations.
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.
As these discussions intensified this year, hospital physicians began urging the hospital’s five-member board to take quick action on a potential new business partnership with Swedish.
In April, however, both organizations said they felt more work needed to be done before any formal agreement was completed.
Sharon Salyer writes for the Herald of Everett.
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