Hospital considers partnership

Bill Gordon, the hospital's chief executive officer, met a week ago with administrators of the Carson-Tahoe Hospital and Reno's Washoe Medical Center to discuss the possibility of an affiliation between the three medical centers.

Gordon said the meeting addressed partnership concerns but not a buy out or mergers between the three medical facilities.

A spokesman for Carson-Tahoe Hospital agreed an acquisition or merger was out of the question.

"One of the principles of the discussion is that there will be no sharing, selling or leasing of assets between the hospitals," said Rich Linkul, marketing director for the Carson-Tahoe Hospital.

"We're looking at ways to provide better quality, more effective health care to the people in the region."

Linkul said the affiliation could bring more efficient medical services to the area by eliminating the duplication of medical services offered by the three medical centers. It could also serve patients in a larger geographic area and lower costs of health care within each community.

John Wheeler, spokesman for Washoe Medical Center, said the affiliation idea emerged about a year ago and then quickly died when Carson-Tahoe expressed no interest. The idea surfaced again about a month ago when Carson-Tahoe warmed up to the idea.

Linkul said the group has agreed on Sept. 30 as a deadline to decide whether the affiliation is a possibility that the hospitals would like to pursue.

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