In June of 2007, the Board of Directors of Prosser Memorial Hospital (PMH) formed an in-house steering committee to coordinate a comprehensive study of its Transitional & Long Term Care Unit (T<C). During the March Board of Commissioners meeting, the committee presented their findings and made a recommendation to the commissioners. Based on this presentation, on May 1, the Board voted to move forward in negotiations with Eagle Healthcare Inc for the sale and transition of Skilled nursing beds from Prosser Memorial Hospital.
The committee based its decision on Eagle Healthcare's description of a proposed retirement community, located in Prosser, including a new 36-bed skilled nursing facility, assisted living units, and possibly senior housing. The nurses in the T<C department will transition to this new facility as well.
The purpose of the Committee was to study and evaluate options for the ongoing provision of Skilled Nursing Facility services in our community.The long-term care unit at the hospital has an outstanding reputation for quality care, but it is facing space challenges. As state and federal guidelines become more restrictive, our facility is in more jeopardy of falling out of compliance. As market and regulatory conditions continue to change, our unit will eventually become obsolete.
Federal and state regulations governing the way services must be provided to Medicare and Medicaid patients have made it increasingly difficult to meet fire and life safety standards and other technical regulatory standards. With almost no place to store patient care equipment, as an example, staff struggle against the need to meet zero-lift standards while keeping corridors clutter free and safe in a potential fire emergency.
Further, PMH is financially dependent upon the continuation of governmental subsidies that are unique to Public District owned long-term care units. These subsidies often make the difference between covering costs in T<C or not. Subsidies of this nature are routinely under scrutiny by legislative bodies and federal and state bureaus and as governmental budgets become more tenuous, the expectation is that these subsidies will eventually go away.
A 2007 study commissioned by the Board of Directors indicates that the District could improve operations by as much as $$350,000 annually if services realigned and relocated the skilled nursing facility (SNF) off-campus, regardless of who operates it.
With space at a premium on the hospital campus, hospital administration have been studying ways in which PMH might better offer hospital-based services like surgery, OB, acute care, emergency, and others that have grown significantly in volume over the past ten years.
Focused on the needs of residents and families, the communities served, current employees, and the hospital organization the steering committee spent time evaluating all options available to the hospital including the continuation of services on campus, relocating services to an off-campus facility, or transitioning services to a non-hospital owned long-term care company.
During the review process, the committee researched three main options:
1)Do nothing and keep the facility where it is.
2)Move the building off campus and maintain ownership.
3)Maintain Skilled Nursing Care in Prosser but operated by another organization.
While each had its pros and cons, the committee determined the third option is the best and recommended the PMH Board sell the 36 SNF beds owned and operated by the Hospital district to Eagle Healthcare.
To keep the unit in the current space would be to ignore the space issues and potentially risk the safety of residents. Presently the TLTC is ' grandfathered' in on a number of regulations regarding space and storage requirements, any renovation to the existing facility would cause the entire department to become out of compliance. If even possible, the cost and ability to bring the existing facility into compliance would be exuberant.
The Committee also researched the idea of moving the unit off-campus but maintain operation and ownership. Through the committee's research, it was determined that in order for a new hospital-owned facility to be financially viable, it would need to offer additional services such as assisted living or senior housing. Hospital administration determined that to finance such a project would greatly limit the ability to upgrade and expand hospital facilities and services on the current campus. The committee further explored the idea of having a developer build the facility and lease it back to the hospital but that too would be a significant impact to the hospital capital improvement budgeting.
The group found consensus with the third option and working with another organization to offer skilled nursing in Prosser. Having met extensively with two particular organizations, the committee determined that Eagle healthcare was the best fit for the residents, staff, and community. Part of the proposal from Eagle included discussion of a newly constructed senior living campus with a 36-bed skilled nursing unit, assisted living, and possible senior living apartments. More details will be available as the contract is negotiated in the coming weeks.
TLTC steering committee final report and recomendation (Media)
Tri-City Herald article on Long Term Care (Media)
