Yakima's Memorial Hospital is looking to partner again.

In the fall of 2020, Yakima Memorial Hospital ended its 5-year-plus affiliation with Seattle's Virginia Mason Hospital.

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Learning From The Past

The Yakima Herald quoted the Board President at the time:

I think this relationship for the almost last five years has been beneficial for both of us,” said David Hargreaves, chairman of the Virginia Mason Memorial board, in a phone interview Friday. “I think we learned a lot and gleaned a lot from them. I just think being part of a larger system, we just didn’t feel at this time was the best fit for us.”

Is MultiCare The Best Fit

Now Memorial is considering a new partnership with the announcement that they have signed a letter of intent to explore joining the MultiCare Health System.

MultiCare is a not-for-profit, secular health care system in operation since 1882. It is the largest locally owned health system in the state including 11 hospitals and hundreds of clinics in the Northwest.

How It Might Help Memorial And Yakima Health Care

Next step, is a two-month review to determine if the merger would work well for each organization and expand and improve the quality of health care for Yakima.

A Memorial New Release explains the upside:

 Joining MultiCare would allow Memorial to accelerate the hospital’s ability to invest in new programs; implement an integrated electronic health record; and provide a sustainable future for Yakima’s only hospital. Joining MultiCare would also strengthen Memorial’s role as the leading healthcare hub in Central Washington.

 

Memorial CEO Carole Peet says, "Over the past two years, Memorial has successfully navigated the closure of Astria, the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and an increasingly costly and complex health care environment.  That makes a new partner to share the load extremely attractive to Memorial and it appears that in MultiCare, they have a willing teammate.

Bill Robertson, CEO of MultiCare:

We believe that it is of critical importance for communities across our region to have access to the health care they need, in those communities. I’m hopeful that our two organizations will find ways to work together to ensure that patients and their families in the Yakima Valley have access to a full complement of services close to home for many years to come.

We'll know in about two months if Yakima's lone hospital, Yakima Memorial, has found a new partner.

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