Just say no to the hospital merger

Louis Dominguez
Published: April 15, 2008

Eight years ago, more than 25,000 local citizens actively involved in saving their hospital from out-of-town, opportunistic health care operators, voted along with thousands of others to keep their hospital under local control.

The “Save our Hospital” Coalition affirmed loudly, clearly and definitively to keep Prince William Hospital and all of its affiliates as a community owned and controlled health care provider.

There must be something magic about two hundred million dollars because it is the same amount of money that Universal Health Care was offering eight years ago to buy the hospital.

Now comes the health care octopus of Northern Virginia, Inova, with the same monetary offer, which is absolutely ridiculous, Prince William Hospital is worth much more than one billion dollars, with annual profits of upward of one hundred and fifty million.

Attacking a long-term, contributing physician, hiring high power expensive lawyers, spending millions of dollars in a public relations campaign to elicit support for the sale (take over, sale, merger, partnership, give away, or any other term) of the community owned hospital is the ultimate insult to the community, which pays the salaries of those who are now doing all they can to give away their hospital.

The high salaried hospital staff should stop squandering patient care money in a frivolous and misguided attempt to give the community hospital away. Instead, they should concentrate on improving patient care and reducing operational cost.

The Federal Trade Commission should not approve any such merger with Inova. The merger would contribute much to Inova’s monopoly of health care in the region and would increase cost of services by eliminating competition.

LOUIS G. DOMINGUEZ

Founder “Save our Hospital” Coalition
Gainesville