By Sentinel Staff
One of the final items being negotiated in the health care merger of Sitka Community Hospital with the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium is the voice that everyday Sitkans will have in governance of the combined facility.
That issue was addressed in recent negotiations on the draft “Asset Purchase Agreement and lease agreement” for an “integrated health care delivery system” in Sitka, the parties said in a news release.
At their Jan. 18 negotiating session, teams “agreed on the components of a charter for a ‘Sitka Community Health Council’ in support of effective governance that ensures ongoing community input on SEARHC’s delivery of health care services in the future,” the negotiators said in a joint news release.
Details about the makeup and role of the new community health council were not immediately available. At present the Sitka hospital is governed by a board appointed by the Assembly.
Since the beginning of the merger negotiations, SEARHC has explained that adding community members to the SEARHC board is not an option because it is restricted to Native Alaskans from the region served by the health care consortium.
The negotiators will meet again on Monday, Jan. 28, and the Assembly will have a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29, for “discussion/direction on the SCH/SEARHC affiliation project,” the joint news release said.
The meeting will be open to the public, and an executive session is anticipated, city staff said.
A draft of the document is expected to be available to the public in February, and presented to the Assembly for a final decision in March, the negotiators’ news release said.
“We are in the home stretch with the end in sight,” said SEARHC President and Chief Executive Officer Charles Clement in the news release. “We’re focused on the final complex issues, and everyone is working hard and fully cooperating to resolve these issues in a thoughtful and reasonable manner.”
“Negotiations continue to move along extremely well,” City Administrator Keith Brady said in the announcement. “Both parties are working constructively to reach an agreement that will meet the Assembly’s goals and the community’s long-term health care needs.”
The negotiating teams made progress on three essential issues at the Jan. 18 meeting, the news release said. Those included the limitation of liabilities to the city; the provision and expansion of clinical services, including quality tracking reports, a timeframe to break ground on a new hospital campus on Japonski Island near the SEARHC hospital; and the governance structure.
At that meeting, the teams focused on making sure the Asset Purchase Agreement and the lease terms of some properties by SEARHC parallel one another. They also reached agreement on the list of services provided by Sitka Community Hospital that SEARHC will continue to provide to the community, including primary care, and long-term care and surgery.
Prior to the Jan. 28 meeting, the city and its consultants are to have reviewed SEARHC’s response to its due diligence and “prepare the APA’s exhibits to ensure they accurately reflect the most critical issues discussed.”
“On Jan. 28, the teams will engage in another round of in-depth discussions on the three proposed financing options to ensure a complete understanding in support of making a recommendation to the Assembly at the special session on Jan. 29,” the announcement said. “It’s anticipated that the final drafts of the APA and lease will be available in February for the Assembly’s final approval in March.”
