More than three months after agreeing to negotiate a partnership, Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital and Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital are still talking.
A survey conducted by Hazel Hawkins, the Hollister-based healthcare center, reported that 83 percent of San Benito County residents supported the partnership talks.
Hazel Hawkins said late last month that it continues to study “how the two healthcare systems could work together for the benefit of patients.”
The hospitals entered into an exclusive negotiating agreement in May 2018. The agreement enables both hospitals to take an in-depth look at how a collaboration of resources might help their respective service areas.
As a part of the negotiation process, Salinas Valley has contracted with a consulting group, ECG Management Consultants, to perform due diligence in exploring the business and patient care model of Hazel Hawkins, the Hollister hospital said in a statement.
This due diligence is expected to be completed shortly, with a final report anticipated in late October. The two hospitals will then use the report “to help determine what type of integrated services would be mutually beneficial.”
In the recent poll of San Benito County residents conducted by Hazel Hawkins, 82 percent of residents polled felt that a partnership with a larger health system would help their community.
The two healthcare facilities already have a strong collaborative relationship.
The Hollister hospital uses Salinas Valley’s materials purchasing contracts to receive the larger facility’s economies of scale in purchasing supplies and equipment. A fuller collaboration has the potential to add more specialists and streamlined services to San Benito County, according to officials of both hospitals.
To learn more about Hazel Hawkins Hospital, visit www.hazelhawkins.com.
