Officials from Wabash County Hospital and Parkview Health are still in the due diligence state of negotiations for the two entities to become affiliated. However, they also are now talking about “larger issues.”
That was the word Wednesday morning from WCH President and CEO Marilyn Custer-Mitchell during the hospital’s annual breakfast at the Honeywell Center.
Larger issues, Custer-Mitchell told the Plain Dealer after her talk, include such things as “a new facility, where it will be located, how much money we’ll put toward it, how much money they’ll put toward it.”
“We also want to make sure our existing facility is taken care of if we’re not going to build on that site. We’re going to need something different for that site or demolish it and make it green space. We’re not going to leave it standing the way it is.”
WCH officials had originally looked at property northeast of the Wellbrooke of Wabash facility, south of U.S. 24 as a possible site to locate a new facility. But, Custer-Mitchell said, locating there has not been finalized.
“With Critical Access Status, we, by moving, could lose that,” she said. “So we’re actually in the process of exploring that now. If that were the case, we’d build on our present site.”
She told the 80 people at the breakfast that the two sides have a Jan. 1, 2015, target to complete the affiliation.
“That isn’t a magic date,” she said. “If we don’t make Jan. 1, that’s OK…But that’s our goal.”
To meet that date, many things must take place before then. Negotiations must be finished and both sides must complete the definitive agreement.
A public hearing on the plans must take place. Then, the affiliation must be approved by the WCH board of directors. But because it also is a county facility, the Wabash County Commissioners and Wabash County Council also must approve the plans.
The due diligence has been taking the majority of the time in the affiliation process, she said.
“That’s when they review our documents and we review their documents,” Custer-Mitchell said. “There’s a lot of information.”
Parkview Health President and CEO Mike Packnett told the Plain Dealer after the breakfast that the due diligence process was progressing nicely.
“The due diligence process is going smoother than any I’ve been a part of,” he said. “It’s making sure we dot every I and cross every T. Everything is green light. We want to say we feel very honored to partner with the hospital, the board, the county commissioners and the county council as well.”
He said WCH’s leadership is one thing that led Parkview to be interested in an affiliation.
“We’re always interested in serving the community and in finding like-minded people and leaders,” Packnett said, discussing why Parkview was interested in affiliating with Wabash. “What we found with the board leadership and with Marilyn, was a meeting of the minds of how can we work together to make health care and well-being in the Wabash County area, how can we enhance that together?
“We found great partners in the board, a great partner in Marilyn.”
Packnett said should the Jan. 1 date be hit, Wabash County Hospital would become an affiliate of Parkview on the same day a Wabash County native takes over as Parkview’s board chair.
“The incoming chair of the Parkview Health board is Dave Haist,” he said. “He grew up in Wabash and his family is still here.
“Dave has deep roots in the community. He was the first to introduce me to the Wabash community many years ago. To be the leader of the Health system, it seems like great timing to have a Wabash native to head up the board.”