LCCHC Board of Commissioners Approve Motion to Shutter Sanctuary Services and Re-size the Lake Chelan Clinic
Lake Chelan Community Hospital Board of Commissioners Approve Motion to Shutter Sanctuary Services and Re-size the Lake Chelan Clinic
The Lake Chelan Community Hospital Board of Commissioners reserved ample time during their annual Strategic Planning Retreat held July 16th and 17th. Additionally, a special Board meeting was held on Friday July 24, 2020 to evaluate current service lines. At that meeting, a motion was made and carried to shutter the Sanctuary in-patient addiction recovery program. The Board also carried a motion to direct administration to right-size the Lake Chelan Clinic to profitability.
Considerations for closing the Sanctuary program included that it only serves about 10 percent of our community, reopening due to COVID-19 is not feasible for the foreseeable year which adds to the financial impact, and although the Sanctuary as a department has shown a positive bottom line overall it dilutes or reduces Medicare reimbursements for other hospital programs. It was a difficult decision to make but it is a decision that had to be made to grow and improve the services that our community needs.
Financial data shows that the Lake Chelan Clinic has operated at a loss since the hospital purchased it in 2015. During the two-day strategic planning meeting, the board considered closure of the clinic if it could not be made financially viable to continue serving the community. At that time, the board tasked hospital administration to present options that would allow the clinic to remain open. During the special Board meeting on Friday July 24, 2020, the Board was presented with options of right-sizing the clinic. The Commissioners were unanimously in favor of not closing the clinic.
LCCHC is diligently working to continue to provide services that the community needs as well as exploring services that will be needed in the future. We are excited to restart discussions for the replacement hospital that will be a major asset to the health of our community, the partnership that we have with CVCH, and the Residency Program.
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