Sitka Hospital Sale
Dear Editor: On March 21, the Assembly requested that Sitka Community Hospital bring forward plans for a stand-alone hospital at both current and reduced service levels (Plans A and B). At the same meeting, the Assembly requested that Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium bring forward a proposal to merge SCH with SEARHC (Assembly File # 17-051). SEARHC is scheduled to present their merger proposal at an Assembly work session on May 30 (6 p.m., Centennial Hall). The SCH plans are to be presented to the Assembly later in the summer.
By requesting the SEARHC merger proposal, the Assembly has started down a path that could lead to the sale of SCH. This is what a merger of SCH with SEARHC would be. There are many issues with this option that everyone in our community should be concerned about and I hope these issues receive full discussion as the summer progresses. My purpose here is to draw attention to a fundamental flaw in the Assembly’s approach to the possible sale of SCH to SEARHC. Because the Assembly is only considering one potential buyer, they cannot assure us that SCH is being fully valued in any merger proposal from SEARHC.
A common method for achieving full value in an asset sale is to open the sale up to all those potentially interested in acquiring the asset. The purpose is to achieve some level of competition for the purchase. This is what any family does when divesting a key asset such as a home. This is what a trustee does when liquidating valuable estate assets. Can you imagine being an estate trustee and not ensuring full value was received in liquidating estate assets? Estate heirs would be up-in-arms if the trustee sold off valuable assets to a buddy down the street without some process being in place to ensure full value was received.
Our Assembly has nothing in place to assure us that SCH is being fully valued in a merger with SEARHC. The door has been opened for this sale and in light of the Assembly’s skepticism concerning SCH’s FY2018 budget (May 2 Assembly meeting, File # 17-084) and their many financial concerns for the city’s future, it would not be that surprising if one or more Assembly members look favorably on SEARHC’s merger proposal – no matter what it is. This is a concern for me. SCH is a significant community asset and if we receive a viable merger offer from SEARHC on May 30, you can bet that SEARHC sees value in it. But we won’t know if this is full value. Nor will the Assembly.
If the Assembly is seriously considering divesting SCH, then opening up the process to all potentially interested parties and considering more options for SCH’s future is needed.
Travis Hudson, Sitka
