PORT ANGELES — Juniper Advisory has received positive responses from a number of the more than 20 companies it approached about merging with Olympic Medical Center.
The firm handling OMC’s exploration of a merger with another healthcare system provided an update Wednesday to hospital commissioners.
“There was a strong interest in potentially working with OMC from a broad range of partners from established, highly regarded organizations,” said Chris Benson of Juniper Advisory.
Over the next three months, Juniper Advisory will further evaluate companies to determine if their goals align OMC’s and assess their viability as a partner. The companies have all signed nondisclosure agreements, so their names have not been released.
Board president Ann Henninger said moving forward in the process does not mean OMC has committed to securing a partner.
The board can end the search at any point and decide to remain an independent public hospital.
“This phase is going to allow us to conduct a more thorough analysis of the potential partners,” she said. “We are committed to transparency, although maintaining some degree of confidentiality is essential to the process. It is standard best practice in exploring a partnership.”
Meanwhile, the board will meet at 12:30 p.m. March 5 to interview applicants for the open seat created by the January resignation of at-large commissioner Phyllis Bernard. A vote on the appointment likely will be taken.
The meeting will be held at OMC’s Linkletter Hall, 939 Caroline St.
At their Feb. 5 meeting, commissioners approved a resolution to make all seven board seats at-large positions. It previously was composed of six seats representing three geographical areas of the county and one at-large position.
On a recent trip to Olympia to speak with legislators, OMC CEO Darryl Wolfe said OMC and other hospitals focused their efforts on three primary issues: opposing a bill capping rates on school and public employee health plans (SEBB and PEBB plans), defending the hospital safety net assessment program (SNAP) that supplements Medicaid payments, and opposing a bill (HB 1881/SB 5704), the “Keep Our Care Act,” that would establish more public oversight of hospital consolidation.
Of particular concern, Wolfe said, was a plan to redirect funds from the SNAP program into the state’s general fund.
“Medicaid has historically paid about 65 percent of our costs to provide care,” Wolfe said. “The SNAP program, which was implemented in 2024, netted about an additional $12 million to OMC. It still pays us less than cost, but it’s much closer, about 85 percent of cost.”
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has not yet approved SNAP funding for 2025, further putting that funding at risk, he said.
The “Keep Our Care Act” opposed by Washington hospitals would impose strict limits on their ability to merge, adding time and expense to what is already a highly regulated process, Wolfe said.
“No matter what OMC is going through right now, for hospitals across our state that are in trouble, this just makes it a more cumbersome process here that are looking for help,” Wolfe said.
In Washington, D.C., OMC has been working with the offices of Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Mountlake Terrace, and U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, to fight cuts to Medicaid funding.
“We have been providing information to to our federal delegation to help them make good arguments on our behalf in Congress,” Wolfe said. “I won’t sugarcoat it: It does not look good.”
In their presentation to the board on OMC’s Age Friendly Healthcare initiative, house supervisor Cari Gavin, RN, and trauma program manager Jae McGinley, RN, explained how the program strove to deliver safe and reliable high-quality care to the hospital’s growing cohort of older patients.
Clallam County is quickly aging, they said, with the number of those 65 and older growing from 25 percent of the population in 2012 to 32 percent in 2022. About 42 percent of patients seeking care in the emergency department are older than 65; they also have longer stays than younger individuals.
In other news, the Olympic Medical Center Foundation’s 18th annual Red, Set, Go! luncheon to raise awareness about heart disease and funds for OMC’s Heart Center will take place Feb. 28 at Vern Burton Community Center. Tickets can be purchased at tinyurl.com/4dk5d68j.
Also, Wolfe will speak at a Clallam County Democrats forum from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday about the hospital’s exploration of a partnership with another healthcare system. The event will be held at the Clallam County Democrats headquarters, 124 W. First St.
Questions for Wolfe must be submitted no later than Monday to Lisa Dekker at dekkerla@gmail.com.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
