Kaweah Health’s Visalia Medical Clinic on Hillsdale will be bought out after Kaweah Health’s contract with the clinic’s group was terminated.
“Adventist Health intends to purchase all of the clinic assets currently owned by Kaweah Health and provided to VMC (i.e., buildings, equipment, furnishings, etc.) and hopes to retain as many of its existing providers (doctors) as possible,” said Gary Herbst, CEO of the Kaweah Health Care District.
Adventist Health is a Christian-based, nonprofit and owns hospitals, clinics, home care and hospice agencies across the west coast, including hospitals in Tulare, Hanford, Bakersfield, Reedley and Selma.
All physicians, advanced practice providers and therapists are employed by VMC while the non-provider staff is currently employed by Kaweah Health, according to Herbst. They will now be employees of Adventist, if they choose to stay.
Herbst said Kaweah Health’s greatest concern is that patients at VMC will be directed to other Adventist Health facilities outside of Visalia for any non-emergent hospital care. Herbst also said many physicians who want to leave VMC and Adventist Health can find continued support from them to stay local.
“At Kaweah Health, we believe in local health care and we will always support local physicians who provide excellent care and keep care local, regardless of who they work for,” Herbst said.
While the Visalia hospital is nearly broke after the COVID-19 pandemic, Herbst said there’s no discussions of selling the main hospital or other clinics at this time.
For the last seven years, Kaweah Health has invested more than $80 million in VMC for maintenance and equipment; to recruit and keep physicians, staff and other providers; and to fund its operations, he added.
Doctors, though, aren’t happy, saying they feel left out in the dark.
“We saw this coming, but it doesn’t change that it’s a slap in the face to the doctors in this clinic and the patients who’ve stuck by us for decades,” said a doctor who has practiced at the clinic for more than 12 years. “We are in a healthcare crisis nationwide and we don’t think selling off assets is the right way to turn this ship around.”
The doctor asked not to be named because Adventist is a private hospital that employees the doctors, unlike Kaweah, which is a public entity and relies on doctors to be hired by private groups.
“I don’t speak for all physicians, but I fear this will push much-needed providers out of the Valley and into bigger markets,” the doctor said.
In November 2022, Kaweah Health partnered with Unitek Learning to start a nursing school and enrolled its first cohort of students to combat the staff shortage at Kaweah Health Medical Center. The future of the school has yet to be announced. Students were committed to Kaweah Health Medical Center after graduating.
Herbst said VMC began looking for other partners at the beginning of last year. On June 30, Herbst was given a letter by VMC that it was exploring partnerships with other entities but did not explain why.
In a December Kaweah Health board of directors meeting, Herbst announced in a report that the contract with VMC was terminated and the termination agreement is effective on March 21.
“The agreement between Kaweah Health and VMC was not scheduled to expire until June 30, 2025, at which time it could be renewed for another ten years, like the original agreement, or for a different time period,” Herbst told Visalia Times-Delta. “Again, no reason was given for their decision to terminate the agreement early.”
It was later confirmed to them that Adventist Health would be VMC’s future partner. Herbst believes finances were not a reason for the VMC’s departure but did compare the monetary value of both health systems.
“Adventist Health does have greater financial resources than Kaweah Health and perhaps VMC believes that they will be able to make greater financial investments in them than we have made,” Herbst said.
It’s been around seven years since Kaweah Health Medical Group (KHMG), which runs VMC, was formed. Prior to that, Visalia Medical Clinic was private. It’s one of the few local clinics that doesn’t take Medi-Cal and offers everything from pediatric care to neurology.
“KHMG is one of 14 medical foundations that currently exist in California. Just under two-thirds of California medical foundations are investing more annually, as a percent of the respective medical foundation’s net revenue, than [Kaweah Health] is currently investing in KHMG, with Adventist Health investing the most in its medical foundation than any other medical foundation in the state,” the report said.
Adventist has been partnering or buying local properties for years. A 2021 annual report to their board of directors, broke down how Adventist Health invested more money into its assets than any other agency.
Adventist Health has refused to comment on its potential purchase of Kaweah Health’s Visalia Medical Clinic.
This is a developing story.
