Our Voice: Tri-Cities can’t afford to lose Trios

Tri-City health care professionals have been handling one of the worst flu seasons in recent memory, and we shudder to think what it would be like if we did not have three hospitals managing the surge in patients needing care.

Sadly, eight Tri-Citians have died from the flu — all were considered high risk cases because of underlying health issues.

Schools have reported abnormally high absentee rates the past few weeks, and emergency rooms have been in overdrive handling the influx of patients.

But thankfully, our hospitals have kept up.

If anything, this recent flu scare shows that our community can’t afford to lose any of them. If we did, we can’t imagine how the other two would absorb the demand.

And that’s part of the message Trios Health officials want to convey.

The Kennewick Public Hospital District’s health care system has been hurting financially for a long time, and about a year ago the board decided to hire an outside consulting firm to help it through its fiscal problems.

Craig Cudworth of Quorum Health Resources was hired to manage the financial and organizational restructuring at Trios.

He recently met with the Tri-City Herald Editorial Board to say that progress is being made, and that community support is critical to keep the hospital going.

Trios officials have had to take some painful steps in an attempt to regain financial health, but providing quality health care is its priority.

Cudworth and the hospital board appear to be doing everything they can under the circumstances to get the hospital back on track.

Trios is on a tough path to recovery as it struggles with $221 million in debt after building a new hospital and medical building on its Southridge campus. A variety of factors put the hospital district in this position, but the best thing Tri-Citians can do now is look ahead and hope the Trios recovery plan is successful.

As part of the course correction, the hospital district last year filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy and made staff cuts — including a new, recent round of layoffs.

Chapter 9 bankruptcy is not to be confused with Chapter 11 or Chapter 7. With Chapter 9, insolvent public entities gain protection as their administrators reorganize debt.

Cudworth said that two of three creditors are cooperating with the hospital district, and negotiations are ongoing with another one. Once a bankruptcy plan is confirmed, Trios can pursue the possibility of partnering with outside health care systems, which should help Trios regain its financial strength.

As for the layoffs, it seems contrary to let employees go at the hospital when demand for care is at record numbers.

But the staff cuts — which they thought would affect nine people — were targeted in specific areas where staff levels were above industry norms, Cudworth said.

He also noted that Trios Health accepts more Medicaid patients than any other hospital in the Tri-Cities. Reimbursements under the Affordable Care Act have fallen, which has also been tough financially.

But that is another example of why the community needs Trios to survive. Those Medicaid patients obviously need it.

And so do the rest of the Tri-Cities.

This story was originally published January 28, 2018 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Our Voice: Tri-Cities can’t afford to lose Trios."