Grossmont Hospital OKs Sharp Affiliation

The board of directors of the Grossmont Hospital District voted Wednesday to approve “in principle” a controversial affiliation between the hospital and Sharp HealthCare, the large medical network.

The board’s vote was 4 to 1, said Karen Hamilton, a hospital spokeswoman.

The sole negative ballot was cast by Dr. Basil Maloney, the board president, who said he felt the community needed more time to study the issue.

A final vote on the matter is expected within four to six weeks, after final documents outlining the affiliation are presented to the board, the hospital spokeswoman said. But authorities agreed that Thursday’s vote signaled the board’s desire to go ahead with the affiliation.

“They left themselves a window, but the intent is there,” said Dr. Joseph Leonard, the hospital chief of staff.

Proponents of the affiliation--part of a trend of such arrangements nationwide--say it would ensure Grossmont’s financial well-being for years to come, at a time when many hospitals are facing unsure futures.

But critics say the affiliation could presage loss of community control at the 465-bed La Mesa hospital, which serves much of East San Diego County.

“I think this is a very bad omen for the citizens of East County,” said Dr. Dennis Wilcox, a staff physician at the hospital and spokesman for the Citizens Network to Save Grossmont District Hospital.

Opponents of the affiliation now plan to take steps seeking a recall of the four board members who voted in favor of the affiliation, Wilcox said. Legal action aimed at blocking the move is also possible, Wilcox said.

Grossmont and Sharp have been discussing an affiliation since fall, after Sharp’s effort to unite with Scripps Clinic & Research Foundation failed. Scripps Clinic instead joined forces with Scripps Memorial Hospitals.

But the talks were in closed sessions among administrators and lawyers, with periodic press releases from Grossmont saying negotiations were progressing.

It wasn’t until March 5 that the public was given any chance to participate in the process. At that meeting and a second on March 22, residents of the Grossmont district complained that the affiliation was being railroaded to completion without their consent.

Sharp would be getting millions of dollars of the district’s assets for nothing, they said.

They also complained that there was too little information available on how the affiliation would work. It was not until Wednesday morning that Grossmont officials released a copy of the legal report on details of the merger, after negotiating with Sharp for more than a week on its release.

Grossmont doctors have also opposed the affiliation. In a medical staff vote, 58% of the doctors who voted opposed the affiliation.

Under the affiliation, the Grossmont Hospital District directors would lease all of the district’s assets for 30 years to a new, nonprofit corporation, the Grossmont Hospital Corp. That move would get around the problem of melding a publicly owned district hospital into a corporate network.

Grossmont Hospital Corp. would run the hospital and other medical facilities as part of the Sharp HealthCare network. It would have a 15-member board appointed by Sharp.