A partnership with a for-profit company will not dim the values and mission of Alabama’s largest health care provider, Baptist Health System (BHS) officials said June 18.
After a six-hour board meeting, the board of trustees for BHS announced it will pursue a relationship with Texas-based Triad Hospitals, Inc., in order to meet funding demands for its nine hospitals.
Bobby Keith, chairman of the BHS board, said much deliberation and prayer had gone into the board’s decision. He added the partnership was the best solution to meeting BHS’ needs while upholding its mission and values.
“Triad has agreed that the hospitals’ faith-based characteristics will remain, including the chaplaincy program, the current no-abortion policy and the same amount of charity and indigent care as has been historically provided by BHS,” Keith said.
According to BHS president and CEO Dennis Hall, BHS began a study two years ago to forecast the capital needs of the system.
Keith said BHS realized it would need to invest $80 to $100 million a year to keep pace with maintenance and growth needs.
In December 2002, the board of trustees began looking at various options to meet that demand. While it may take 30 days to finalize the details, he said the partnership with Triad was the best option.
All of BHS’s facilities are included in the negotiations except its senior housing facilities and its part ownership of Cullman Regional Medical Center.
Keith added that the partnership could involve a total buyout of BHS’s hospitals or be an agreement whereby Triad will manage the BHS hospitals without buying them.
Any money received by BHS from Triad would be managed by the Baptist Health System Foundation and would likely be given to the hospitals to continue ministries such as the chaplaincy program and indigent care, he added.
However, the hospital employees will keep their jobs, and the hospitals’ names should remain the same. Even “the crosses will stay” on the buildings, Keith said.
Hall said, “The whole purpose of pursuing this relationship is to ensure that our faith-based mission … will continue into the future.”
He added that the board’s goal throughout its perusal of options was that “the faith-based delivery of health care will continue in Alabama.”
A partnership with Triad, which currently owns 49 hospitals and 14 ambulatory centers in 17 states, would ensure the continuance of the system’s values, Keith said.
Triad currently owns five hospitals in Alabama.
Keith added the capital from Triad, while being used for operating and maintenance needs, could also be used to build a heart tower and women’s center at Montclair Baptist Medical Center and a replacement hospital at Baptist Coosa Valley Medical Center.
He said board members had visited other faith-based, nonprofit hospitals that had partnered with Triad and were pleased with what they discovered.
“We found [Triad’s] culture is close to ours,” Keith said. “They were enthusiastic and willing to go along with our principles.”
Hall added that BHS could ensure that the mission of the hospitals remain through direct involvement in the hospitals, or through contracts or a missions board.
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