Hospital district to appeal alliance-lawsuit dismissal to state Supreme Court
Published 11:00 am Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Public Hospital District No. 1, which owns Valley Medical Center, will appeal to the Washington Supreme Court a decision by King County Superior Court judge dismissing its challenge of the strategic alliance with UW Medicine.
The vote at Monday’s hospital district commission was 3-2, with Dr. Paul Joos, Anthony Hemstad and Dr. Aaron Heide voting for an appeal, and Sue Bowman and Carolyn Parnell against it.
By the same vote margin, the commission also decided to hire a lobbyist to make its case for changes to the structure of hospital districts.
Right now, there are three geographically defined commissioner districts and two at-large districts. The commission wants all five commissioner districts to represent a specific geographic area, which would require a change in state law, among other changes.
In a final action, the commissioners elected officers. Joos will remain as board president and Hemstad will serve as vice president and Heide as board secretary.
Parnell and Heide had each nominated the other for an officer position but didn’t receive the necessary votes.
