And then there were two.
Hospital trustees narrowed their choices of management from four to two at their meeting Tuesday night, and agreed to hire an independent consultant to advise them through the rest of the process.
Trustees said they will decide on whether to pursue options with their current management company, Hospital Corporation of America, or a lease agreement with Saint Lukes Health System.
If it comes to HCA, any future agreement between it and Allen County Regional Hospital probably wont look the same. Instead, trustees said they want to consider lease options or renegotiate the current contract to better fit their needs.
In the decision to hire an independent consultant to help navigate the complicated process, Loren Korte said, Early on, I thought that was a waste of money. Now I think we need a third party, someone independent, to guide us through this thing.
The board asked Alan Weber, county counselor who also advises the board, to help find a qualified consultant.
Patti Boyd, outgoing trustee and chairwoman, said, Bring someone in to help us use our own power to look for situations we cannot even imagine. As a hospital, we have to do three things. We have to take really good care of our people. We have to make enough money to not go broke. And the really big thing we cant do is close.
TRUSTEES shared their opinions of presentations from three management companies they heard last week.
I learned an incredible amount of information, and also how our hospital fits into the universe a little more, Jim Gilpin said.
Trustees thought two of the companies didnt fit Allen Countys unique challenges.
Great Plains Health Alliance works well for hospitals in Western Kansas, they said, but concerns that face hospitals in that part of the state differ from Allen County. Dr. Charles Wanker, an ex officio member of the board, said he worries that because the system is spread across Kansas that access to specialists and the ability to share physicians and services might be difficult.
Kansas is rural and Kansas is urban. Kansas is weird, Boyd said. Were close enough to the city that were not truly rural, but were still kind of far. Were also a very, very poor community as a whole.
Their concerns with Quorum were almost the opposite its hospitals are too close. Quorum manages ACRHs biggest competitor, Neosho County Memorial Hospital in Chanute, as well as hospitals in Coffeyville and Neodesha. Quorum representatives said they would look for ways the hospitals could join forces.
But ACRH trustees worried it still would compete with Neosho within the Quorum system, and they were skeptical that such a partnership would benefit Allen County in the long term.
HCAS presentation, on the other hand, convinced trustees they had more options than theyd previously understood. They were encouraged by assurances from HCA representatives that they can renegotiate the terms of the current contract.
Plus, HCAs scope of services as one of the nations largest healthcare networks provides opportunities for financial savings on contract negotiations and physician recruitment. And because theyre already part of the network, any changes to the contract would result in minimal disruption to patients and employees.
HCA officials also offered to consider a return to a lease agreement, but there was some debate over the feasibility of such a proposal. The hospital was leased by HCA until the county built a new facility in 2013; under terms of municipal bonds, a for-profit entity cant lease the hospital. Trustees previously complained of problems with HCAs lack of investment in the facility and low employee morale under the prior lease.
