The Washington State Department of Health on Aug. 17 gave the thumbs-up to an innovative partnership between Seattle-based Swedish and Stevens Hospital in Edmonds. It will take effect Sept. 1, the same day Stevens is officially renamed Swedish/Edmonds.
In the first relationship of its kind in Washington state, DOH granted a certificate of need for nonprofit Swedish to lease and operate Stevens, owned by Public Hospital District #2 of Snohomish County. Under the 30-year arrangement, the District will receive monthly lease payments of at least $600,000. Current Stevens administrators and staff will remain in place and new employees will be added as services expand.
While Swedish will make day-to-day operations decisions for the facility, the Hospital District Board of Commissioners will be consulted on major issues. The District will continue to exist with a more expansive mission of keeping its sights on enhancing the health and well-being of the entire community far beyond acute-care hospital services.
Non-profit Swedish provides 1,245 licensed beds throughout the region in three hospital campuses in Seattle (First Hill, Cherry Hill and Ballard) and a fourth under construction in Issaquah. It also operates an extensive network of primary- and specialty-care clinics throughout King County, in addition to Swedish Visiting Nurse Services, and a freestanding emergency department and ambulatory care center in Issaquah. Two other freestanding emergency and ambulatory care facilities are currently under construction in Redmond and Mill Creek.
Swedish currently employs 7,360 people systemwide, including 410 physicians. Its active medical staff is comprised of 1,550 physicians, most of which are private practitioners.
Stevens is licensed for 217 beds and has 1,200-plus employees and more than 400 physicians with privileges.
Cal Knight, president and chief operating officer of Swedish Medical Center and Mike Carter, president and CEO of Stevens, noted several important advantages to the new relationship. Together, the groups form a regional health-care delivery network that will allow more local services to be provided at the Edmonds location, while giving residents greater access to the latest medical treatments and the comprehensive services of the regional system. Also, Swedish’s connections with health-care professionals across the country will help with recruitment and retention of practitioners and staff.
Combining assets and talents, Stevens and Swedish will be able to better manage costs, provide greater value to patients and reduce waste.
Swedish is committed to making significant investments in advanced medical and information technology at Stevens.
For more information, visit www.swedish.org and www.stevenshospital.org.
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