Region-wide health care authority starts tonight

The founding meeting of the Northern California Health Care Authority, a novel region-wide collaboration among the Sonoma Valley Health Care District, the North County Hospital District (Healdsburg), the Palm Drive Hospital District (Sebastopol) and the Mendocino Coast Health Care District (Fort Bragg) will be held at 7 p.m. tonight, Aug. 30, at the First Congregational Church, Burlingame Hall, 252 W. Spain Street, Sonoma. There will be a reception beforehand, at 6:30 p.m.
The Sonoma Valley Health Care District President and Interim N.C.H.C.A. Chairperson invites the community, providers, elected officials and employees from all four Districts to attend the reception and meeting.
The Northern California Health Care Authority will constitute a Joint Powers Agreement between the hospitals to work together to expand access, improve the quality of patient care, share resources, increase financial stability, create innovative new programs and develop a more integrated health delivery system in the region and in the districts.
Potential activities of the Authority include: physician recruitment and call services, joint contracting and negotiations with third party and government payers, and joint ventures relating to inpatient and outpatient services.
Mike Smith, SVHCD First Vice President, said, “I believe we can be a model of cooperation and innovation on a district and regional level. We hope to link hospitals, community health centers and providers in an integrated system that will better serve our communities.”