Valley General Hospital has announced that, in March of 2015, in accordance with an alliance agreement with EvergreenHealth, the hospital will be changing its name to EvergreenHealth Monroe.
Since entering into an affiliation agreement with EvergreenHealth in late 2012, the hospital has entered a truly transformative season which has been allowed to flourish under new upper-level management and a voter-approved tax levy increase. A carefully phased process, the alliance between Valley General and EvergreenHealth has been allowed to move forward incrementally.
Initially, the agreement provided Evergreen with the opportunity to help support Valley General through the strategic implementation of various services. One of those strategies involved establishing a primary care clinic with EvergreenHealth physicians to replace Valley's own primary care clinic which had closed.
Valley General Chief Executive Officer Eric Jensen explained that EvergreenHealth entered into a lease agreement with Valley General for the space, and then prepaid the lease for five years as a way of helping the hospital become more financially stable.
Both EvergreenHealth and Valley General are looking forward to moving ahead with respect to the affiliation.
"We are pleased to have this agreement in place, giving us the opportunity to further improve the breadth and quality of the services we can provide our growing population in east Snohomish County,GÇ¥ said Jensen. "Since our initial agreement in 2012, we've made great strides in stabilizing our operations, financial performance and delivering on the promise we made to our community when they enthusiastically approved a small levy increase to help maintain access to 24/7 emergency and trauma care and inpatient services.GÇ¥
The phased agreement was always meant to culminate in a more comprehensive and inclusive alliance. While Valley General will remain a separately licensed care facility, it will now become fully integrated into the EvergreenHealth system.
Valley General Hospital and EvergreenHealth are both governed by separate Boards of Commissioners, both of which voted to approve the third and final phase of the alliance agreement. As a part of the agreement, a new governing body called the Alliance Governing Body (AGB) will be formed to oversee the alliance.
"It's been anticipated as things have moved on that we would build onto the existing relationship,GÇ¥ said Valley General Commissioner Tony Balk. "Overall we've been pleased with it. Evergreen has been very supportive of this institution, so we decided to take the next step.GÇ¥
The AGB will be composed of two members of Valley General's Board of Commissioners, two members of EvergreehHealth's Board of Commissioners and EvergreenHealth's CEO, Bob Malte. Members of Valley General's five-member Board of Commissioners, which will remain intact, will also sit on various EvergreenHealth committees.
Negotiations on the specifics of the affiliation agreement have taken place over the past several months. Crafting an agreement which ensured that Valley General Commissioners would maintain a satisfactory level of input in relation to the governing policies of the affiliation was important to everyone involved.
Balk explained that there are several ways in which the alliance will be beneficial to Valley General and the residents of east Snohomish County. In addition to continuing to work towards expanding the level of available services, the affiliation with EvergreenHealth allows them to continue to make strides towards overall financial health by boosting their level of buying power and putting them in a stronger position as far as negotiating with insurance companies.
Over the next few months, the focus at Valley General will be the implementation of the agreement. In addition to numerous logistical procedures, the board will need to select which of their members will serve on the AGB.
Overall, Commissioner Balk sees the transition as an extremely positive thing for the hospital.
"It's going to make the medical care stronger in this community,GÇ¥ said Balk.
Since 2013, Valley General has engaged in numerous expense reduction initiatives, while working to expand services in areas like the recovery center. They've also entered into a partnership with Fairfax Hospital to establish a new inpatient mental health facility that will open sometime next year.
"Valley General will benefit in many ways from an alliance with such a highly regarded health care organization,GÇ¥ said Jensen. "We've already made great strides in increasing the access to high-quality care for our community, and enthusiastically take the next step in solidifying a long-term commitment to the residents of east Snohomish County.GÇ¥
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