Representatives from Life Point Health meet with Yuma public for the first time
Community members concerned over presentation by Life Point Health - Fox 9's Adam Klepp reports
YUMA (KECY-TV, KYMA-TV) - Representatives from for-profit company Life Point Health met with members of the yuma public for the first time tonight.
This comes as they hope to partner with Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC), as they announced a non-binding letter of intent to merge in July.
Tonight, Life Point Health tried to make their case as to why their partnering with YRMC would be good for the community.
“We will continue to take care of everybody, who needs health care in this community, everybody.” Victor Giovanetti, Executive Vice President of Hospital Operations for LifePoint Health said.
Even with his close to 30-minute presentation, many in the community still had questions and concerns.
“There’s one phrase they keep using, an employee in good standing, will be hired or maintained in their positions," Nancy Mosely, Registered Diagnostic Cardiac Sonographer at YRMC said. "With a lot of people I work with that’s very vague, it’s like what does that mean?”
Community member John Nelson is concerned about the for-profit aspect of LifePoint Health.
“They are in fact a nationally traded company, they have stockholders, we have stockholders too, those are all the people sitting here," Nelson said.
Hospital District Board One listened as LifePoint Health presented some specifics on how they believe they would help Yuma.
According to Giovanetti, one of the positive aspects of LifePoint Health is that they are a tax-paying entity.
After the meeting, those representatives from LifePoint met privately with Hospital District Board One.
“Our benchmark for success, if we are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work with you all, is for you to come back in two years and say, you didn’t do everything perfect, but you got it right," Giovanetti said.
YRMC and LifePoint Health can choose to form a partnership but ultimately it is up to Hospital District Board One to approve a new lease on the land with that merger.
