Proposed Sutter/Memorial Transaction

The County has a high degree of interest in the proposed transaction between Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa (“Sutter”) and Memorial Hospital and the potential impact of that transaction on the community's healthcare delivery system.  In 1996 the County entered into agreements with Sutter and its parent company, Sutter Health,, leasing the County’s hospital facilities to Sutter and requiring Sutter to operate a hospital in Sonoma County at least through 2016.  A Health Care Access Agreement specifies certain services that Sutter is obligated to provide.

The proposed transaction requires the County’s consent.  To date, however, the County has not received sufficient information on which to evaluate the transaction.  The proposed transaction also requires the approval of the California Attorney General.  Unless and until all required approvals and consents are provided, Sutter and Sutter Health remain bound by their agreements with the County.

The key agreements are provided below.  The County has not received from Sutter or Memorial the details of the proposed transaction, its impact on the community, or how that transaction will fulfill the promises and obligations required under Sutter’s agreements with the County. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has directed the County’s Department of Health Services (DHS) to conduct a preliminary assessment of the community healthcare impacts if Sutter fails to carry out its previously approved plan to construct a new hospital and if Memorial Hospital attempts to assume Sutter’s contractual obligation to provide access to healthcare to the residents of Sonoma County.  The assessment process included data collection from the community, the hospitals and the State of California, and an analysis of that data by independent consultants.  The consultants have presented a preliminary study to DHS.  That study is preliminary because there may be gaps in data and knowledge that could be material to the study’s analysis and conclusions.  These gaps are a byproduct of the limited time and information available.  There may be relevant information that was not available to the consultants during the study period.  Also, facts as they appear today may change.

The County does not intend to make any decision regarding the proposed transaction without full and complete disclosure by the two hospitals and their parent corporations of the terms of the proposed transaction and the hospitals’ plans, as well as a thorough analysis of the transaction’s potential impact on the community.

A copy of the preliminary study is posted below.

A Preliminary Study for the Sonoma County Department of Health Services (1.0MB)

The Department of Health Services retained two Independent Consultants to prepare a Preliminary Study for the Board of Supervisors on the Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa and Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital proposed transaction.

Please submit your comments with the subject line of Consultants Study to:

Healthcare-Impact-Assessment@sonoma-county.org