Tucson’s three nonprofit hospital systems — University of Arizona Health Network, Carondelet Health Network and Tucson Medical Center — have worked together to make this community healthier for many years. While competitive, we recognize that collaboration made our community stronger and healthier.
In the face of very challenging reimbursement pressures, two of the three systems faced severe financial challenges and pursued consolidation strategies to merge into larger systems. University of Arizona Health Network with Banner Health, which was finalized last month, and the Carondelet system being acquired by a joint venture to be led by for-profit Tenet Health System.
As the only locally governed nonprofit community hospital soon to be left in this area, Tucson Medical Center has been closely watching to winnow out what the ownership changes to Southern Arizona’s academic medical center would mean to the residents of Southern Arizona.
It was a bit like reading tea leaves, since this community had little opportunity for dialogue about these changes. Public meetings about the ownership changes were posted in ways that met the letter — but not the spirit — of the law, attracting exactly one member of the public on what is arguably the biggest ownership transfer this community has seen.
So we were disappointed that on the very first day of Banner’s new ownership of our academic medical center, the message was one of competition, not collaboration. The message was loud and clear: “If we are going to grow, we’re going to have to grow by earning business that is being rendered elsewhere.”
While we have always competed, the Tucson region has benefited from hospital systems that see value in working together and recognizing the unique role each system plays in the community. Just as an example, the three hospital entities have sat around the same table, with other community partners, to pinpoint areas of greatest medical need locally. We’ve collaborated to decrease the ranks of the uninsured. We’ve jointly sponsored educational programs to empower residents to take charge of their health.
This was done out of respect for the shared work we do in caring for our neighbors. We collaborate because we recognize that our community — the people we serve — will be stronger because of it.
This is not to say we do not welcome healthy competition. It pushes us to be better as individual hospitals and as a health-care community as a whole. By the numbers, in 2014 TMC cared for more than 90,000 people in our Emergency Department, performed nearly 23,000 surgeries and delivered 5,527 babies. TMC is the busiest and largest hospital in the region for a reason — because more in the community choose to come to us to than any other hospital because of our staff, our physicians and the quality of our services.
TMC is focused on Southern Arizona, which allows us to invest in the health and well-being of our area’s residents. We have been Tucson’s community hospital for more than 70 years and we will continue to serve and excel as such.
Others may try to make the claim that they are a “community hospital,” but they will learn it’s more than a tagline. It’s a way of thinking. It’s a core value and a founding principle.
