On Tuesday night, the combined boards approved a request for proposals (RFP) to be sent to five nonprofit hospital chains in the Puget Sound area. The Boards of Commissioners of Cascade Valley, Island and Skagit Valley hospitals will send their RFP to MultiCare Health System, PeaceHealth, Providence-Swedish, Virginia Mason Medical Center and University of Washington Medicine.
Partnerships and consolidations among health care systems represent a trend that is playing out across the country and in the Northwest. Healthcare systems are forming alliances to combine strengths, focus on improving patient care, accessing capital and reducing the cost of healthcare through the streamlining of services.
The boards’ joint meeting this week follows more than a year of discussions and consideration in a unique process by the three public hospitals, which started with signing an interlocal agreement in November, 2011 to seek ways to work collaboratively.
Cascade, Island and Skagit seek a partnership with a larger health care system to enhance patient care, extend access to specialty services and augment clinical quality; to continue to recruit and retain physicians and other providers; to seek efficiencies and cost containment opportunities; ensure long-term economic viability and prepare for the rigors of health care reform and budget reductions at the state and federal levels.
The overarching goal of the process is to retain and expand excellence in local health care for the people served by the three hospitals.
The three organizations will use the following criteria to evaluate responses to the RFP:
- Advance the vision of Skagit Regional Health, Island and Cascade Valley
- Extend access to specialty services
- Augment clinical quality
- Augment process improvements
- Recruit and retain physicians and clinical staff
- Maximize available cost savings
- Prepare for value-based reimbursement and healthcare reform
- Build economies of scale
- Enhance information technology
- Access to capital
Health-care organizations are facing challenging times with distressed national and state economies, lower reimbursement for services, and surging competition in the areas served by the three hospitals.