OPINION: Health care district missed Petaluma Valley Hospital deadline

The quality of health care in Petaluma is not something to be taken for granted, which is why it was troubling to hear the news last week from the Petaluma Health Care District, the public agency that owns Petaluma Valley Hospital.

Despite a deadline two decades in the making to complete its search for a hospital operator, the district announced recently that it would not complete the process in time to take its decision to the voters in November. The lack of a ballot measure ensures that St. Joseph Health’s current 20-year lease to run the hospital will expire in January without a successor in place.

St. Joseph remains the front runner to continue operating Petaluma’s only acute care hospital, but negotiations between the operator and the health care district have apparently stalled. The sticking points in the new contract remain murky - the district continues to be tight-lipped about the negotiations citing its duty to get the best possible deal for the public.

In the void of information, questions have arisen about Catholic-based St. Joseph and possible religious concerns they may have with providing certain services at the hospital. Was St. Joseph’s recent merger with fellow Catholic health care provider Providence Health and Services responsible for any new demands from the incumbent operator? It’s unknown.

The district has a duty to keep the public fully informed and to offer voters a referendum on a new hospital operating contract. The current contract expires in January, and the district would have had to make a decision this week in order to place it on the November ballot for an up or down vote.

Now, we are assured of a having the current deal expire without having a new one in place. The next opportunity for a ballot measure is in March, meaning that there will be uncertainty at the hospital for at least a few months, likely under a short-term extension of the current St. Joseph contract.

Either way, this uncertainty is bad for heath care in Petaluma. It is difficult for St. Joseph to attract quality health care professionals to work in Petaluma when they are not certain they will be in charge of the hospital after January.

By missing the deadline to place a new contract on the November ballot, the Petaluma Health Care District and its publicly elected board have failed in its main duty of managing the hospital for the public.

While voters will not have a hospital contract to consider this fall, they still may be able weigh in on the health care district’s inaction by attending public meetings of the health care district and staying informed about the state of the negotiations.

And four of the district’s five publicly-elected board members are up for reelection this November, so voters can still make their voices heard.