SEDRO-WOOLLEY — United General Hospital is considering a more official alliance with PeaceHealth, the nonprofit that runs St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham.
The two organizations began working together in early 2009 to supplement the limited services offered at United General's rural hospital. PeaceHealth began leasing space from United General to operate a clinic on its campus about a year ago, and the two collaborate in recruiting specialists to the local facilities.
In a joint release Monday, June 27, United General and PeaceHealth said they have signed a letter of intent to "explore" a more closely integrated relationship over the next six months — one that could include PeaceHealth managing and delivering services at United.
United General CEO Greg Reed said the partnership would bring financial stability to the Sedro-Woolley hospital, which "must seek innovative ways to expand while still driving down costs" in the current health care economy. He said working with a regional operator would improve the hospital's access to resources and its economies of scale.
United General also would retain its designation as a critical access hospital, which results in higher Medicare reimbursements as an incentive for providing rural access to care.
In the past, United General had been affiliated with Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon as the two tried for more than a decade to establish a regional hospital system in Skagit County, which currently includes three public hospital districts.
The system never came to fruition, and the relationship between the two districts ended in 2004. The two hospitals are currently involved in litigation over Skagit Valley's efforts to operate a clinic within United General's Public Hospital District 304 boundaries.
A hearing for the two lawsuits that have been filed — one by United General against Skagit Valley and one by the 36 physicians involved who've lost privileges to operate at United General — was scheduled for Monday morning. But the hearing was canceled late last week after the Whatcom County judge who'd been assigned to it announced he serves on the board for PeaceHealth.
A hearing with another Whatcom County judge — all four Skagit County Superior Court judges have recused themselves — is being scheduled.
Skagit Valley's CEO Gregg Davidson has said the hospital's purchase of Skagit Regional Clinics last summer also was a reaction to the economic climate of health care. Operating the clinics, including the one in United General's backyard, is part of Skagit Valley's vision to grow as a regional health care system.
Davidson said in a statement Monday that he could not immediately know how an alliance between United General and PeaceHealth would affect his hospital.
"While we anticipate (Monday's) announcement between United General Hospital and PeaceHealth will impact health care locally, we cannot comment further until additional details of the alliance are known," he said.
Reed said a wide range of scenarios for the alliance will be discussed over the next six months and presented at a series of public meetings. The release said the purpose of any relationship with PeaceHealth would be to generate growth in both services and jobs at the hospital, though it's too early to know how an alliance would impact the 400 jobs at United General.
He said one of the reasons United General is choosing to ally with an organization with Bellingham ties instead of Skagit Valley Hospital is that PeaceHealth offers "a higher level of tertiary services that aren't available in this county."
"If you look at the services provided at the three hospitals in Skagit County, we're all pretty much community hospitals, with the exception of a couple things Skagit Valley Hospital offers," he said.
Reed said PeaceHealth's experience operating three critical access hospitals with plans to open a fourth on San Juan Island in 2012 is another selling point. The Catholic nonprofit also operates multiple urban facilities in Washington, Alaska and Oregon.
