Tuality Hospital Isn’t for Sale Yet

February 23, 2011 -- Despite rumors to the contrary, Tuality Community Hospital has not entered into an agreement with Legacy Health System.

 

“There’s been no letter of intent signed,” said Dick Stenson, Tuality’s president, in an interview with The Lund Report. “Tuality’s not for sale. There’ve been rumors about us as long as I can remember. People talk to us lots of time.” Tuality remains the only independent hospital in the four-county Portland and Vancouver region.

 

Stenson didn’t discount the possibility of a future affiliation -- particularly as regionalization takes shape, a goal of Governor Kitzhaber’s who’s focused on creating an integrated healthcare system, bringing together physical health, mental health, oral health, addictions and long-term care services for the nearly 500,000 people on the Oregon Health Plan.

 

That approach could reduce the number of managed care organizations participating in the Oregon Health Plan following a bidding process. Tuality also runs Tuality Health Alliance which provided coverage to 10,175 Oregon Health Plan members last month.

 

When will the hospital affiliate? “When the community is better off by taking on a partner rather than standing alone, and the community can maintain control of its resources rather than letting someone else promise the moon,” Stenson said. “This is not something we’re going to rush into lightly, and we’re not engaged in talks right now with anyone.”

 

Someday the hospital might be serious about affiliating with a larger system, Stenson acknowledged.

 

When that occurs, he has no intention of bowing out. “I intend to stick around as long as they let me. If I were ever given the personal choice between walking away with a pile of money or to stay on to see my organization transition well to healthcare reform from the state and feds, I’d choose the latter every time. I've been looking forward to true healthcare reform for 40 years. I'm not going to miss the big show. I got into this field to help people and will stay until I or my board feel I’m no longer needed to do that for the communities we serve, much as I do enjoy spending time with my grandchildren and hobbies.”

 

The community-based hospital has no intention of building an empire, Stenson added. “We don’t aspire to take over Portland, but Portland may aspire to take over us,” he said.

 

Tuality, which has faced economic woes, ended up with a 2.58 percent operating margin last year, which is a high mark for the Washington County hospital compared to previous years. “We had the highest amount of cash in our recent history, made contributions to the employee pension plan, and gave our employees a 3 percent raise in January,” Stenson said.

 

In 2009, the hospital’s operating margin was 1.24 percent, while its gross patient revenue reached $355,015,800 and it provided $8,642,363 in charity care, according to a report compiled by the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.

 

Of its payer mix that year, the largest percentage – 55.27 percent – came from Medicare, while Medicaid represented 13.36 percent; commercial, 26.25 percent and self-pay, 7.63 percent, the same report showed.

 

Tuality, which is licensed for 48 beds in Forest Grove and 167 in Hillsboro, had an occupancy rate of 80-100 beds last year.

 

Recently, the Joint Commission certified Tuality as a stroke center

 

 

To learn more about Tuality, click here.