PORT ANGELES — Olympic Medical Center’s financial problems and exploration of a possible partnership were the focus of a debate between OMC commissioner candidates Penney Sanders and Laurie Force.
Incumbent Sanders and challenger Force will compete in the Aug. 5 primary for the Position 7 seat on the seven-member Hospital District 2 board. A third candidate, Mic Sager, has withdrawn from the race, although his name will still appear on the ballot.
Ballots for the primary will be mailed on July 16.
Sanders and Force are competing to fill the unexpired term of former Commissioner Phyllis Bernard, who stepped down from the board in January. The board appointed Sanders in March to fill the vacancy until the election.
Sanders said Tuesday at the Port Angeles Business Association meeting at Jazzy Joshua’s that OMC has plenty of company when it comes to losses created by rising expenses and declining revenues, among other factors.
“Do we have a problem? Absolutely,” said Sanders, an elder advocate who moved to Port Angeles 20 years ago. “Every hospital in the country is facing the same financial crisis as we are. But we have an opportunity in this fiscal crisis to rethink how OMC operates.”
Force is a retired nurse practitioner who moved to Port Angeles from Renton with her husband in 2019 to be closer to her aging parents.
“I want to do what I can to support the hospital and its mission,” Force said.
Her priorities are keeping OMC open, keeping private equity ownership out, keeping care secular by not affiliating with a faith-based system, and keeping care local.
Force echoed the perspective expressed by some in the community who have criticized what they perceive to be a lack of transparency with the partnership process OMC has been working through as it considers whether to ally with another health care network or remain independent.
“Now is the time for maximum transparency,” Force said. “There needs to be more outreach into the community. People need to know better the kinds of options and what are the trade-offs.”
Sanders concurred that there is a need for greater communication with the community, but not at the moment.
“I believe that will be forthcoming as plans develop,” she said. “We are still in conversations that are not ready for public participation. I firmly believe that will come in due time.”
The candidates agreed that the biggest threat to OMC’s future is its payer mix dominated by government programs like Medicare and Medicaid that do not adequately reimburse the hospital for delivering care.
“There are no easy answers. If there were, the board would have made them already,” Force said. “I don’t have answers, but I have questions and doing deep inquiry into finding cost savings or revenue or changing the structure of some operations.”
Sanders called the Medicare/Medicaid problem “the big monster that has to be fixed” at the federal level, she said.
“We have to re-think how we talk to D.C. and align with hospitals throughout the country,” Sanders said.
Short-term, Sanders said she would like to rethink OMC’s two walk-in clinics so they can take some pressure off the emergency department, and look at how the hospital can operate more efficiently and effectively while still having the ability to grow.
“I have an opportunity to finish what I started, continue the work that’s been done and keep it going,” Sanders said.
Many of the challenges facing OMC, such as government payer reimbursements, are beyond its ability to solve alone, Force said, but that’s where efforts have to start.
“It’s a hard job,” Force said. “I think I have things to contribute to that team.”
OMC commissioner is a nonpartisan, six-year position that pays $161 per meeting. Commissioners also are eligible for medical and dental insurance.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
