Pioneers Memorial Hospital is open to discuss the idea to collaborate with El Centro Regional Medical Center, a Pioneers official said.
This comes two days after El Centro City Council and board members from El Centro Regional Medical Center heard a presentation from health care consultant Howard Salmon.
In his presentation Salmon listed the challenges both hospitals are facing, such as a decrease in revenue from Medicare, patients going elsewhere for care and a shortage of physicians, to name a few.
The best way to tackle these issues is for both hospitals to collaborate and make up for each entity’s weaknesses by perhaps merging services that both hospitals offer, according to Salmon. This is a plan that both hospitals have unsuccessfully negotiated in the past.
Pioneers board members heard the same presentation from Salmon on Monday, said Pioneers Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Kay Day Pricola. “And there are many strong points in his presentation,” she said.
In addition, Pioneers board President Katy Santillan has said publicly that Pioneers doesn’t oppose the idea and is prepared to move forward with discussions, according to Pricola.
But a collaboration “is not going to happen overnight,” she said, as both hospitals “have to do due diligence on the legal issues” if a collaboration was to occur.
ECRMC is a city-owned hospital and Pioneers is a district, she said, and as such ECRMC has a “governance body of the city that has to make some decisions for them.” Meanwhile, according Pricola, Pioneers is a district that would have to get a “consensus from our tax base to make any changes.”
At the end of the day, she said, both entities “need to make sure that we are doing the best thing for health care in Imperial Valley.”
Staff Writer Alejandro Davila can be reached at 760-337-3445 or adavila@ivpressonline.com
This comes two days after El Centro City Council and board members from El Centro Regional Medical Center heard a presentation from health care consultant Howard Salmon.
In his presentation Salmon listed the challenges both hospitals are facing, such as a decrease in revenue from Medicare, patients going elsewhere for care and a shortage of physicians, to name a few.
The best way to tackle these issues is for both hospitals to collaborate and make up for each entity’s weaknesses by perhaps merging services that both hospitals offer, according to Salmon. This is a plan that both hospitals have unsuccessfully negotiated in the past.
Pioneers board members heard the same presentation from Salmon on Monday, said Pioneers Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Kay Day Pricola. “And there are many strong points in his presentation,” she said.
In addition, Pioneers board President Katy Santillan has said publicly that Pioneers doesn’t oppose the idea and is prepared to move forward with discussions, according to Pricola.
But a collaboration “is not going to happen overnight,” she said, as both hospitals “have to do due diligence on the legal issues” if a collaboration was to occur.
ECRMC is a city-owned hospital and Pioneers is a district, she said, and as such ECRMC has a “governance body of the city that has to make some decisions for them.” Meanwhile, according Pricola, Pioneers is a district that would have to get a “consensus from our tax base to make any changes.”
At the end of the day, she said, both entities “need to make sure that we are doing the best thing for health care in Imperial Valley.”
Staff Writer Alejandro Davila can be reached at 760-337-3445 or adavila@ivpressonline.com
