February 21, 2013 -- For the past 15 years, Kaiser Permanente's 100,000 members in Clark County have sought non-emergency hospital care at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver.
A pending partnership between Kaiser and Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center would change that in October -- with Kaiser designating Legacy Salmon Creek as its Clark County hospital.
Dr. Thomas Hickey, vice president and associate medical director for Northwest Permanente, said the pending partnership would increase convenience for Kaiser members -- Legacy Salmon Creek is just a few blocks from Kaiser's Salmon Creek clinic at the confluence of interstates 5 and 205. In addition, Kaiser patients would be able to access more specialty care that Kaiser does not offer.
Pending approval by the Washington state insurance commissioner, the agreement should take effect Oct. 1 and expire in 2020 -- just over seven years, said Brian Willoughby, a spokesman for Legacy Health Systems in Southwest Washington.
If the agreement is approved, Legacy Salmon Creek will spend about $6 million in renovations to add beds and equipment -- including a third operating room in the maternity wing to perform additional Caesarean sections -- and will add about 200 full-time equivalent positions, including care professionals and support staff, Willoughby said.
"This will be the biggest growth spurt since we opened in 2005," said Denise Fall, nurse executive at Legacy Salmon Creek. The hospital was built in 2005 and is licensed for 220 beds; it has about 110 active beds and intends to add 30 once the Kaiser contract is complete.
Willoughby said Legacy officials are planning for an added 8,000 patient visits, including 1,000 additional births. Currently, about 2,200 babies are born at Legacy Salmon Creek each year.
Hickey said Kaiser has partnered with Legacy on past projects, including a child abuse screening program, and he's excited to continue the partnership as well as other community health initiatives that serve people not on Kaiser's membership rolls.
Recent projects have included a free clinic that provided whooping cough vaccines to uninsured adults in Clark County, coordinating oral health care to the Free Clinic of Southwest Washington, as well as community education events on healthy eating and active living.
Kaiser's Salmon Creek facility mostly provides primary care services, and the organization's focus is increasingly on preventing major health problems, Hickey said.
"Ideally, we want to manage the care really well, so we don't have to go to the hospital," Hickey said.
Kaiser providers now have "team huddles" where they discuss a patient's care, and as of a month ago, patients receive emails on "gaps in care." For instance, a young woman who is overdue for a Pap smear may receive a notification that she should make an appointment soon, or a patient at high risk for hypertension may receive a reminder to get his or her blood pressure checked.
Fall said Legacy Salmon Creek boasts consistently high rankings in patient satisfaction, that Kaiser Northwest also reports high member satisfaction among Northwest health plans, and that the two organizations have similar missions and high quality standards.
"So far it feels like it's been a good fit," Fall said.
The two health systems intend to work together to communicate the changes to patients, including media outreach efforts and mailings to members -- as well as merging electronic health records so that when Kaiser patients start visiting the hospital, staff will be able to access their health records immediately. Since both health systems use the same electronic records software, EPIC, Willoughby and Hickey both said they anticipate a seamless transition to the new system.
