Possible Hospital Collaboration In Monterey County
Making moves to improve local health care. On Tuesday, talks of a major collaboration between two local hospitals were revealed. Leaders from Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare made their case, that a partnership with Natividad Medical Center, which is run by the county, could be a good move.
On Tuesday, county supervisors also gave Natividad Medical Center the OK to move forward with its schedule to develop a new trauma program. Now county supervisors, along with SVMH are weighing their options. Both said they want better services for the people of Monterey County.
Better services and healthier residents — that’s what county supervisors and SVMH leaders said when it comes to discussing a public, private partnership. Recently the county approached SVMH to discuss the possibility of partnering and whether it could legally work.
“Is it possible to make all of these things happen at the end of the day, the trauma center, affiliation?” said county supervisor Fernando Armenta.
A letter from SVMH to county supervisors states it would work. However, SVMH feels Natividad needs to be more forthcoming with its finances, in light of current losses and a plan to build a trauma center estimated at costing $27 million.
“It may be the right thing to do economically for both organizations to have it here. But I won’t know that until we actually do our due diligence, for financial assessment of what it would cost to run, you know two types of services of similar a like in two different facilities,” said SVMH CEO Pete Delgado.
SVMH said if the two hospitals were to partner, some services could overlap and plans to purchase new equipment or hire specialized staff members may be a waste of taxpayer money, because there could be duplicates. Natividad’s CEO said in the end, county officials call the shots because its a county-run hospital. But the county said it’s collaborative effort with SVMH will hinge on advice from Natividad’s health care experts.
“They’re going to seek the wise input from the board of trustees. They’ll ask me. They’ll ask other community stakeholders,” said Natividad Medical Center CEO Harry Weis.
Down the line, the partnership could be called Monterey County Healthcare Authority.
“Many positive attributes of how the community would benefit if Salinas Valley and Natividad were to work together,” Weis said.
SVMH said its very concerned that county leaders are allowing Natividad to move forward with the trauma center, despite the fact that it’s financial projections are based on data from 2009. County supervisors said they plan to get more frequent updates on Natividad’s finances to keep a close eye on it’s finances.
