With a unanimous vote and a round of applause, Olympic Medical Center commissioners in Port Angeles passed a memorandum of intent to form a tertiary partnership with Swedish Medical Center on Wednesday.
The action was taken during an educational retreat at the Port Angeles hospital, OMC spokeswoman Bobby Beeman said.
The nonbinding memorandum of intent sets up a potential affiliation with Swedish for patient referrals, clinical services and high-tech improvements.
Forks Community Hospital commissioners approved a memorandum of intent for the affiliation with Swedish on Tuesday, board member Gerry Lane confirmed.
Jefferson Healthcare commissioners in Port Townsend will consider approving a similar document at their May 11 commissioners meeting, said Jill Buhler, board chairwoman.
If an affiliation agreement is reached this summer, the three North Olympic Peninsula hospitals will refer patients to Swedish for specialized care they can’t get locally.
In return, Swedish will refer patients back for follow-up care and help OMC, Jefferson Healthcare and Forks Community Hospital implement federally mandated electronic medical records and make other improvements.
“All of us at Olympic Medical Center are excited and pleased to take this next step in our proposed affiliation as part of our ongoing effort to offer the best health care services to our community,” said Eric Lewis, OMC’s chief executive officer, on Wednesday.
“The ability to work with a health care provider of Swedish’s stature and capabilities will be an enormous benefit to local patients,” he added.
“Many of these benefits Olympic Medical could not offer on its own, such as providing Epic, a top-notch electronic medical records system, and subspecialty services.”
The seven-page memorandum of intent outlines key areas of focus for the affiliation: enhanced local cardiology and neuroscience, improved coordination for referrals and sub-licensing the Epic EMR system.
Buhler said that, if Jefferson Healthcare commissioners approve a memorandum, “then we’ll start doing community outreach and finding out what the community thinks and gather information from community members.”
The three Peninsula hospitals held joint board meetings last year to discuss a partnership with a large medical center.
As a group, they sent a request for information to seven potential affiliates. All seven responded.
The finalists were Swedish, Providence Health & Services and Harrison Medical Center.
Even if chooses a partnership with Swedish, Jefferson Healthcare will work closely with Harrison because of its proximity to Bremerton, Buhler said.
The boards and administrations of all three local hospitals have stressed that each would remain a separate, independent entity. Patient choice and physician choice would remain.
“It’s always up to the patient,” Buhler said.
“We will help them to go wherever they want to go.”
Buhler said it will be important for Swedish to accept “all comers,” including charity care patients.
“Our goal it to make it easier, especially for the financially vulnerable, to get the care they need,” she said.
Swedish Medical Center has hospital campuses at Seattle’s First Hill, Cherry Hill, Ballard and one in Edmonds. It has a network of primary care and specialty clinics throughout the Puget Sound.
Swedish is a regional referral center providing specialized treatment in cardiovascular care, cancer care, neuroscience, orthopedics, high-risk obstetrics, pediatric specialties, organ transplantation and clinical research.
“Swedish Health Services is honored to be the affiliate of choice for Olympic Medical Center, Jefferson Healthcare and Forks Community Hospital,” said Marcel Loh, senior vice president and chief administrative officer of Swedish-Cherry Hill, in a prepared statement.
“We look forward to completing the affiliation agreement and being an extension of the great care that all three organizations provide to people who live and work in the North Olympic Peninsula area.”
Buhler said representatives from the Peninsula hospital have been impressed with Swedish on tours.
“They have stuff that you drool over — stuff that we would never obtain here in our lifetime,” Buhler said.
“It seems to me like it’s the best of both worlds. Our doctors seem to be embracing it, too.”
Top officials from the three local hospitals will spend the next few months hammering out the details of the partnership.
“The devil is in the details, and we want to make sure that when this rolls out they’ve all been covered,” Buhler said.
Buhler said she envisions a “seamless” handoff for referrals. If a patient needs to see a specialist at Swedish, his or her charts will already be on the Epic system, she said.
“I won’t have to hand-carry anything,” Buhler said.
“Everything is delivered electronically.
“When I finish my treatment there, a copy is sent back to my primary care physician here.”
For more information on Swedish Medical Center, visit www.swedish.org.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
