Down but not out
MONROE — EvergreenHealth Monroe hospital appears to already be working from its “Plan B” playbook as area voters last week rejected a hospital levy measure.
The hospital is going forward with its MRI and CT scanning machines, and will slowly find a way to centralize its electronic medical records system, said the hospital’s Chief Administrative Officer Renee Jensen in a statement.
Re-introducing baby birthing services, though, is being sent back to the drawing board. The levy also would have given a dedicated 24/7 surgical team on-site.
The measure asked to help pay for these items by increasing property taxes by 20 cents per $1,000 in assessed value. For a $400,000 home, it equaled an $80 tax increase.
Voters last week rejected Proposition 1 by almost 60 percent.
The 2,900 vote gap is indomitable: There are less than a handful of votes left to tabulate before the election is certified May 3.
A key sales pitch was the hospital would add birthing services if voters approved the levy.
“At this point it’s too early to comment on the future of an obstetrics unit at the hospital,” Jensen said in the statement. “We will look to the leadership of both boards of commissioners to give input and direction to our plans moving forward.”
The two boards are the hospital’s board of health and a second, smaller governance board of five people that includes EvergreenHealth’s CEO, a hospital spokeswoman clarified.
The additional levy funding would have staffed surgeons 24/7 inside the hospital. The hospital offers 24/7 surgical care, but on evenings and weekends it has to call surgeons to come to the hospital.
24/7 trauma care also would have let the hospital potentially ladder up to being a level three trauma care hospital from its level four standing.
For comparison, Providence Everett is state-verified as a level two hospital, while Skagit Valley Hospital and EvergreenHealth Kirkland are level three hospitals. Harborview Medical Center in Seattle is the only level one trauma hospital in the state, from a map by the nonprofit American Trauma Society.
Centralizing Evergreen-Health Monroe’s records using information technology built by the Cerner Corp. would put access to digitized health records all in one place.
EvergreenHealth’s hospital in Kirkland already has this system.
“The move to Cerner will take a little longer to implement due to funding but it’s an imperative,” Jensen said.
The integrated database would cost $6 million up front and $1 million annually, according to the hospital.
Child delivery services haven’t been offered at EvergreenHealth Monroe since 2011. That was another part of the levy pitch.
A fundraiser group for the hospital, the EvergreenHealth Foundation, based in Kirkland, bankrolled the pro-levy campaign with $100,000. The campaign spent about $67,000 including using phone banks, robocalls, a digital ad campaign and multiple mailers, from elections public disclosure filings with the state.
In 2013, area voters approved a lid lift of 14 cents to bring the rate to 27 cents per $1,000. That levy was meant to maintain services already provided by the hospital when it was known as Valley General Hospital.
The hospital district has one of the lowest tax rates in the state.
The hospital changed hands in 2014 to joins EvergreenHealth, which is headquartered in Kirkland and also runs the EvergreenHealth hospital in Kirkland. The Kirkland hospital is part of the separate King County Public Hospital District No. 2.
This year’s levy was to add services to the Monroe hospital.
“In no way will this outcome negatively impact the care we provide to our community,” Jensen said.
