save secular healthcare
PRESS RELEASE
DATE: January 6, 2021
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VIRGINIA MASON MERGER WITH CATHOLIC HOSPITAL SYSTEM SIGNED WITHOUT PUBLIC REVIEW
ON DECEMBER 21 Virginia Mason and CHI Franciscan signed an agreement to merge. Though this agreement was expected, it was executed with no public input or legal or regulatory review and may be challenged from any of these perspectives.
Regional news sources have reported the merger as complete, though in responding to requests last year the Attorney General’s office stated it would likely be reviewed for possible issues of “unreasonable restraints of trade, including laws against price-fixing between competitors and attempted monopolization.” No information has been presented from Virginia Mason, CHI Franciscan nor the Attorney General whether this review has taken place, its process or its outcome.
Virginia Mason and CHI Franciscan have had a cooperative arrangement since 2016 and their intent to merge was announced early in 2020. This change was challenged by a broad spectrum of civil rights and health care organizations due to the restrictions to medical services imposed by hospital systems within Catholic control. A letter was sent to Governor Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson in October with 19 organizations signing on. In addition, a large number of affected citizens have sent letters to Virginia Mason CEO Gary Kaplan and its board members to register their objections to this change. Despite all of these appeals there has been no public response from Virginia Mason and no transparency in their deliberations with CHI Franciscan.
CHI Franciscan is a division of CommonSpirit health, a nationwide system of Catholic health providers. All divisions of CommonSpirit observe a set of doctrines known as the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (ERDs) – 77 decrees that specify services that can and cannot be performed in any facility associated with the Catholic church, including partner organizations. In addition to abortion, the directives prohibit common elective sterilization procedures (vasectomies and tubal ligations), nearly all forms of infertility treatments, end-of-life options legally available in Washington state and timely emergency response to women experiencing miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies.
Public statements by Virginia Mason CEO Gary Kaplan state that there will be limited application of the restrictions contained in the ERDs and that Virginia Mason will lose only some elective sterilization procedures. This view is refuted by changes to the ERD documents made in 2018 to strengthen their application in mergers with secular facilities like Virginia Mason.
An illustration of the impact of the ERDs is an incident at PeaceHealth in Bellingham. When faced with an emergent miscarriage with serious hemorrhaging, PeaceHealth delayed care pending review by an ethics council. At the advice of their physician, the couple eventually traveled to Seattle to seek care, possibly saving the life of the woman.
Beyond issues of restrictions to care, CHI Franciscan has shown hostility to charity care, services to the LGBTQ+ community and fair pricing. In 2019 they were fined $2.46 million by the Attorney General’s office and ordered to pay another $25 million in restitution for providing insufficient access to the poor between 2012 and 2017. More recently, CHI Franciscan was named in a suit against an insurance company for their role in encouraging the company to deny services to a transgender youth. And in 2017, Washington State sued after CHI Franciscan entered into an anti-competitive agreement for primary and orthopedic services that resulted in a $2.5 million fine.
Save Secular Healthcare Washington urges a public review of the impact of this and other consolidations before these agreements can be finalized. We believe that medical decisions should be driven by science and personal choice, not moral directives from third parties.
Selected References
FOLLOWING AG’S CHARITY CARE LAWSUIT, ST. JOSEPH PARENT COMPANY CHI FRANCISCAN WILL PROVIDE UP TO $25 MILLION IN RESTITUTION, DEBT RELIEF AND FEES https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/following-ag-s-charity-care-lawsuit-st-joseph-parent-company-chi-franciscan-will
ATTORNEY GENERAL FERGUSON: CHI FRANCISCAN WILL PAY UP TO $2.5 MILLION OVER ANTI-COMPETITIVE KITSAP DEALS https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/attorney-general-ferguson-chi-franciscan-will-pay-25-million-over-anti
AG INVESTIGATION LEADS TO $1.1M IN CONSUMER RELIEF IN CHI FRANCISCAN BILLING PROBE https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-investigation-leads-11m-consumer-relief-chi-franciscan-billing-probe
Transgender teenager’s health insurance violated ACA by denying coverage, lawsuit alleges https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article247511340.html
Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, Sixth Edition (2018) https://www.usccb.org/about/doctrine/ethical-and-religious-directives/upload/ethical-religious-directives-catholic-health-service-sixth-edition-2016-06.pdf
Joint Statement on Virginia Mason and CHI Franciscan Merger Plan https://www.aclu-wa.org/news/joint-statement-virginia-mason-and-chi-franciscan-merger-plan
About Save Secular Healthcare Washington
Save Secular Healthcare Washington is a coalition of groups dedicated to saving secular healthcare in Washington, starting with fighting the proposed Virginia Mason/CHI merger and then working to increase patient access to all healthcare services legal in this state regardless of the religious affiliation of the medical system and to increase oversight and accountability of healthcare providers.
For more information, contact:
Susan Young (360) 478-1421 SaveSecularHealthcareWA@gmail.com