Published March 2003

Valley General agrees
to take over Sultan clinic

By Sharon Salyer
Herald Writer

In what appears to be a major turning point in keeping the Sultan medical clinic open, Valley General Hospital has agreed in principle to take it over for a year.

This would give the clinic time to chart its future, perhaps as a nonprofit clinic, Mark Judy, chief executive of the Monroe hospital, said in February.

Now owned by Medalia Medical Group, the clinic announced in January that it would close at the end of March and most of its 25 employees would be moved to Medalia’s Monroe clinic.

The announcement was followed by displays of community support, including a rally at the clinic attended by several hundred people. Supporters characterized the clinic as providing a vital community service, noting that it is the only clinic east of Monroe, serving a large geographical area in the Skykomish Valley.

Reflecting on the emotions of the past weeks, Dr. Mark Raney, one of the clinic’s four physicians, said, “It has been a roller coaster. We’re extremely exhausted from all this.

“I think it’s still too early to sell tickets to the grand opening,” he added, “but I think we can at least start working on the design.”

Judy acknowledged that there are still many details to be worked out, including billing, malpractice insurance, physician salaries, paying for equipment at the clinic and working capital. All that could total $350,000 or more, Judy said.

The hospital’s foundation may be asked to launch a community fund drive to help support the clinic.

Attorneys for the hospital and Providence Everett Medical Center, the parent organization to Medalia, will soon meet to talk about legal and financial issues involved in a change of clinic ownership, Judy said.

“Providence has been very cooperative in all aspects of our discussion about the Sultan clinic,” he said.

Valley General in Monroe is a public hospital, supported in part by money from a public taxing district that includes the areas surrounding the U.S. 2 corridor, including Snohomish, Gold Bar, Monroe, Sultan and Index.

Medalia planned to close the Sultan clinic because it lost about $155,000 last year. That clinic and the one in Monroe combined to lose up to $700,000.

Medalia and Providence Everett plan to cut 350 jobs over the next two months to make up for $9.8 million in losses in 2002.

Despite those numbers, helping keep the clinic’s doors open “is the right thing for us to be doing,” Judy said, but added: “There’s a tremendous amount of effort and things to accomplish between now and April 1 to make sure we don’t stub our toe.”

“Time will tell,” hospital board member Dennis Dinkler said. “Hopefully, something will work out for everybody.”

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