Let’s call a “time out” before cementing an agreement to sell the Deaconess and Valley hospitals to an Eastern conglomerate.

Allow me to outline the case for reversing the financial affairs of Empire Health Services, while retaining it locally as one of the Inland Northwest’s jewels.

Aside from maintaining an active medical practice centered in Deaconess for more than 40 years, I have spent many hours visiting with department heads, key administrators and a stellar corporate accountant. And, of course, I have closely read available reports by The Spokesman-Review’s John Stucke and JoNel Aleccia. I’ve also had an outline discussion with the state Attorney General’s Office, which must review the transaction.

Valley Hospital and Medical Center and Inland Northwest Health Services (INHS) have a deep interest in the outcome, as does Sacred Heart Medical Center. And just over the horizon is an expanding Spokane graduate school campus, hopefully to include an Inland Northwest School of Medicine.

One hundred ten years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Franklin O’Neil, finders of a rich Canadian mine, led funding the construction of a hospital, to be called Deaconess. Ten other good-hearted Spokanites joined them in the association. Since that time, thousands of wonderful people have contributed labor and money: lady and gentleman volunteers, directors of substance and unpaid physicians sitting on review panels. Isn’t much owed to all these people of good faith and dedication?

The reason for selling Empire Health Services to Tennessee-based Community Health Systems has been recent red-ink performance. But, let’s look at the long-term Deaconess financial record, as listed in a booklet, “The Deaconess Story”:

1921 — “serious financial problems”

1932 — “financial crisis”

1940s — three properties sold “to pay off a big bond issue”

1963 — Administrator Harry Wheeler says “hospital facing a critical financial challenge”

1974 — “increase in costs and skyrocketing liability insurance”

1987 — “layoff of 60 people to eliminate a looming deficit”

2007 — “sale of Deaconess urgent … may be forced into bankruptcy”

The causes of today’s financial problems are multiple, including rising wages and expensive technical equipment such as computers and CT scanners. Meanwhile, state and federal legislators compound the problem by imposing caps on Medicare and Medicaid payments, then padding the cost of health insurance by requiring much unneeded add-ons (massage and acupuncture among many), then imposing excessive paperwork burdens beyond what’s needed for health documentation.

For their cost of doing business, insurance carriers pad 12 to 40 percent onto each dollar of expense. And a fringe of the legal profession has sharply increased costs through hounding medical providers with lawsuits. A stunning example is the fact that Caeserian sections, which accounted for 3 percent of all births several decades ago, account for 23 percent today.

What can a for-profit corporation do that hasn’t been done by our Spokane people:

“ Risking malpractice allegations, use nurse practitioners wherever possible, instead of M.D.s, which is akin to allowing half-trained pilots in the cockpit.

“ Marginalize and minimize the level of nursing care in the emergency room and the medical and surgical areas.

“ Minimize staffing in support and management facilities,particularly weekends and night shifts.

“ Close down newer technological facilities in radiology, surgery and intensive care areas.

In contrast to the nightmares just described, what should be done?

First, add to the dedicated Deaconess Board two or three astute business leaders from the small circle that has been transforming our downtown landscape. Then pay the price for a top hospital administrator (which already may have been done with the recent appointment of C.E. Bilbrey). The annual salary should be about that paid to the heads of, for example, Sacred Heart and Avista.

That Deaconess can turn a profit is clear from the recent administrative record of Jeff Nelson. He commuted from Minneapolis at an annual salary of $690,000. For the last two years in which IRS 990 forms are available (2005/2006), Empire Health profits were $2,409,614 then $5,279,156.

The Deaconess and Valley hospitals were not built and dedicated to make money for an Eastern conglomerate, but to serve the public with dedication, with compassion, with medical excellence. And that they have done in spades.

As the old saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Let’s keep our local hospitals under local control. They should remain a key attraction for the largest city in the Inland Empire. Greater Spokane Inc., the former Chamber of Commerce, should reconsider its support for this plan and raise its voice in support of local control of our Deaconess and Valley hospitals.

Let these hospitals be key magnets to establish a superb medical school in Spokane. And let the hospitals thus be free to continue providing quality care.