After 31 years of operating independently, Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin is looking into whether to seek a partnership with another health care organization or continue to go it alone.
An aerial shot of Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin,
File photo
By Stewart Dobson, Editor
After 31 years of operating independently, Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin is looking into whether it should seek a partnership with another health care organization or continue to go it alone in an industry that’s seeing fewer small independents each year.
In a response to a recent uptick in public speculation about the hospital’s future, the board of trustees on Tuesday announced that it had launched a “strategic partnership exploration process” that will consider whether working with another organization or remaining independent is the right course to take.
That independence manifested itself in 1993 when AGH opened its doors after a years-long battle against the state medical establishment to bring a primary care facility to the coastal area.
In addition to having to produce millions of dollars in development and construction money, the citizens committee leading the charge for a local hospital encountered state regulators who were reluctant to issue the “certificate of need” that validated local assertions that the coastal communities were medically underserved.
Then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer, however, interceded on AGH’s behalf and ordered state offices to cooperate with the local effort. The ceremonial groundbreaking took place in 1991, and the first year saw 13,316 emergency room visits. Last year, according to AGH contractor Emergency Service Associates, the emergency room saw some 40,000 patients.
According to the AGH website, the hospital and the AGH Health System have close to 950 full-time employees and an annual payroll of $74 million, making it one of Worcester County’s single largest employers and a major force in its economy.
As such, any talk about possible changes in the hospital’s corporate or operational structure would be expected to fuel speculation about what might happen next, even though hospital officials are emphasizing that nothing might happen at all.
“The board is excited to embark on this important journey to thoughtfully and carefully explore the best way to ensure Atlantic General continues providing high-quality healthcare to our community for decades to come,” said board of trustees Chair Doug Cook in a press release issued Tuesday afternoon.
The hospital’s official statement adds that all strategic options will be evaluated during a “deliberate process that will take considerable time.”
That will include taking a look at some of the hospital’s more difficult challenges it faces as an independent operator such as labor shortages and specialist recruiting, AGH CEO Don Owrey said, adding, “We are excited to move forward in this important work to preserve AGH’s proud legacy as our community’s hospital, while planning for an even brighter future.”
Owrey said, “Across the country, independent community hospitals like ours face difficult challenges including growing labor shortages and provider and specialist recruitment challenges, all while the cost of providing high-quality healthcare continues to increase.”
The strategic partnership exploration process will not affect the health system’s daily operations, nor will anything change for patients at this time, the statement said. A website, AGHForward.org, has been created for the public to learn more about the steps ahead as the hospital considers partnerships.