June 4,2015-
A proposed new Kaweah Delta Medical Foundation would operate Visalia Medical Clinic – if an agreement is sealed this fall.
Although the hospital says the arrangement “ is not a purchase or acquisition”, the affiliation calls for the foundation to lease the clinic’s facility.
In addition, Kaweah Delta would hire some 200 non-provider staff at the clinic along with establishing a “professional services agreement” with the physicians of the clinic, says hospital CEO Lindsay Mann.
Visalia Medical Clinic administrator Rick Strid says “patients will see little change” from the affiliation and the Visalia Medical Clinic will continue to own their 44,000 sf building. Staff including Strid himself – will stay on.
For patients “you will still see your same doctor the same as you always do. Life goes on.”
Strid points to the fact the new foundation is co-owned by the hospital and the medical group suggesting the agreement is more a joint venture than an acquisition.
“This kind of arrangement between major hospitals and large medical groups is common in California” says Strid. He points to the Sutter and Dignity Health healthcare chains as examples.
Mann says the hospital hopes that putting the medical group under the an “integrated” umbrella will help both retain and recruit physicians into the community as well as encourage the new KD graduate medical residents – now coming to town through the teaching hospital’s GME program – to see “a clear path to practice opportunities in this community.”
While state law precludes the hospital from hiring the physicians – a professional services agreement can be made to provide some certainty to doctors that agreements will be met.
“Our doctors and mid-level providers will have contracts with the foundation” adds Strid.
With more than 50 physicians Visalia Medical Clinic is the largest physician-owned practice in the valley – founded in 1941. The clinic is located on Hillsdale on the western edge of Visalia.
Mann says by late summer the Kaweah Delta Board and the Visalia Medical Clinic Board will be provided a comprehensive update regarding this due diligence and implementation planning process towards the formation of the Kaweah Delta Medical Foundation during the fall of 2015.
“The Kaweah Delta Medical Foundation represents an affiliation between Kaweah Delta and the Visalia Medical Clinic to provide integrated health care to our patients.”
Strid offers the image of a triangle with the three corners being the hospital, the foundation and the Visalia Medical Group.
Mann says the clinic will continue going by the name – Visalia Medical Clinic – even though it will be a division of Kaweah Delta.