Natividad Medical Center and Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Merger Not To Be : View From A Private Duty Caregiver

The Board of Directors of Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital (SVMH), surprisingly, voted unanimously  to turn down a proposal to merge with Natividad Medical Center.  The issue with the merger seems to have been the devil in the details.  The board cited challenges proposed by Natividad Medical Center for rapid cost cutting as well as its belief that Natividad Medical Center couldn't meet the requirements for an affiliation agreement which would have placed the two hospitals into a public authority structure.  SVMH Board member Pat Egan said the proposal left too many unanswered questions regarding the future of the health care district and the potential deep cuts which would have to be made to employees which would have had a negative impact on the quality of service.  But given the deep financial problems at SVMH, it seems like large budget cuts will be inevitable regardless of the hospital's ownership structure.  Natividad Medical Center CEO Harry Weis expressed "disappointment that a significant opportunity had been lost for our community."  He said that, "By not joining together, we believe our community will be forced back into a competitive health care environment, which in the long run could negatively impact both hospitals."  Don't expect Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital to drop out of the front page headlines of the Monterey Herald anytime soon.  They still need to hire a permanent CEO and figure out how they are going to cut costs to get to profitability as well as fund huge capital expenditures for improvements that they want to make.