Tulare agrees to lease hospital to Adventist Health
Tulare Local Healthcare District (TLHD) board of directors voted Wednesday night to exclusively negotiate with Adventist Health to lease the shuttered Tulare Regional Medical Center with plans to reopen the hospital the end of October.
The 4-1 vote came at the end of a lengthy discussion, including presentations by Adventist Health and Community Medical Centers (CMC), which both presented plans for how to reopen the facility.
Adventist Health, which operates a large hospital in Hanford as well as hospitals in Reedley, Selma, Bakersfield and 16 other communities, said its timeline would be to negotiate a lease in the next 30 days, and open the facility in September or October. An initiative will be prepared for voter approval on the November ballot.
“We are grateful to the Tulare board, Citizens for Hospital Accountability and community for their courage and tenacity in getting to this next step in reopening the hospital,” said Andrea Kofl, president of Adventist Health Central Valley Network. “We’re blessed to serve with the Tulare team and eager to see what we accomplish together.”
Community Medical Centers indicated it was not prepared to move so quickly and said its timetable would be to negotiate a lease in the next three-four months, place the ballot measure before voters in the second quarter of 2019 and reopen the hospital in the third quarter of 2019.
The longer timetable to reopen the hospital and the stipulation that voters in Tulare would have to approve a second bond measure to complete construction on the hospital expansion before they would agree to the lease weighed against CMC in the final decision.
The Tulare hospital district board voluntarily suspended its acute care license in October of 2017 after declaring bankruptcy and learning the former management company planned on closing the hospital. That suspension ends this October, although officials indicated it is possible that could be extended if needed.
Efforts to reopen the hospital as quickly as possible grew more difficult with every day, and because the former CEO of the hospital had placed liens on hospital property, blocking any attempts to borrow funds needed to reopen.
TLHD board president Kevin Northcraft said Wednesday’s decision is one of many that will be needed. Adventist and the district need to come up with a contract, the ballot needs to be placed before voters and work needs to be done to the hospital before it can open. At some point, voters will likely be asked to approve a bond in order to complete the construction of the new tower, but Adventist did not have that as a stipulation to its proposal.
Board member Mike Jamaica said he was swayed by Adventist Health’s commitment to opening the hospital about a year sooner than what CMC planned.
“I think the majority would like to see the hospital open as soon as we can,” he said.
Northcraft, after explaining CMC had been a good partner and had showed a willingness to open the hospital sooner, but then backed off that, said Adventist Health will be a good fit.
“Thank God we we’ve been able to consider Adventist Health. Thank God they want us,” he said.
Board member Xavier Avila said the risk of having to pass another bond measure before the hospital would open was too much for him.
Board member Senovia Gutierrez was the lone negative vote. She pushed for CMC, arguing it provided the opportunity for more services.
Both health care facilities said they would operate the Tulare facility as an acute care hospital with surgery, imaging and emergency services, among others.
Dignity Health and Kaweah Delta Medical Center had both expressed an interest in leasing or managing the hospital, but declined to make a presentation.