Trios’ rescue goes beyond the hospital. We couldn’t thrive without it

Trios Health appears to have been saved from going over the financial brink just in time, and for that we are relieved and grateful.

Our population continues to grow and is set to hit the 300,000 mark sometime in 2019, according to an estimate made last May by the U.S. Census Bureau.

This is no time to be losing medical service in our community.

In addition, the rescue effort also saved about 1,000 jobs, which is significant.

Trios Health is being sold to RCCH HealthCare Partners – the same company set to purchase Lourdes Health in Pasco.

While the process to purchase Lourdes has been going on longer, Trios qualified for a speedier emergency review from the state because of its precarious financial situation.

It turns out it was an extremely close call. Documents obtained by the Herald about the sale show Trios Health at one point expected to run out of money this past week.

Fortunately, there was no interruption of service while the transition took place.

The biggest hurdle was getting state approval of the sale, which happened in late July and cleared the path for RCCH to finalize the deal.

Marv Kinney, president of the Trios board of commissioners, said the public health district “is not alone” in its new arrangement with a private health care company.

Stand-alone hospitals are becoming rarer throughout the country, and Trios officials learned to accept this.

The Kennewick Public Hospital District will continue as an independent, taxing district and will play a role in health care in the community.

Trios and RCCH are working on a “community care agreement” that will guide the district’s future mission.

Money from property taxes will keep being collected to cover indigent care, ongoing charges, education and outreach services, and lingering Medicare billing disputes.

It is a necessary part of the arrangement, and was made to save the hospital and many jobs, Kinney said.

Earlier this year, the Tri-Cities had one of the worst flu seasons in recent memory, and it showed how much our community depended on all three Tri-Cities hospitals.

We reported that emergency rooms were in overdrive handling the influx of patients, and we noted that if we ever lost one of our hospitals we could not imagine how the other two would absorb the demand.

As the Tri-Cities continues to grow, we need more doctors, nurses, lab workers and other medical professionals to handle the health care needs of the community.

We can’t get by with less.

The sale of Trios marks the end of a difficult financial journey for Kennewick’s public health district.

After years of trying to expand from its Auburn Street location, it was an achievement in 2014 when the new hospital was opened at the Southridge campus.

But cash flow problems followed, caused by a variety of factors. Eventually the district board agreed to hire outside help and filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in June of 2017.

That was a wise a decision. Thanks to the efforts of Quorum Health Resources, the hospital district was able to navigate through its financial problems and emerge back on track.

We hope that path forward leads to a solid recovery, and that the financial woes that have plagued Trios Health the past several years will plague it no more.

This story was originally published August 3, 2018 at 12:13 PM.