A new alliance agreement between hospitals in Wellington County has been approved by the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (WWLHIN).
On Feb. 25 the WWLHIN board of directors issued an integration decision under the Local Health System Integration Act, directing Groves Memorial Community Hospital in Fergus and North Wellington Health Care, which operates hospitals in Palmerston and Mount Forest, to proceed with integration as set out in a proposed alliance agreement.
A staff report at the meeting notes the parties have entered into a binding agreement with respect to the integration and will take the following actions by April 1, when the agreement officially comes into effect:
– implement the alliance agreement; and
– develop a human resources adjustment plan in respect of the integration.
The agreement delegates decision-making authority in certain areas to a joint executive committee consisting of five representatives from each hospital board.
The new committee will oversee quality of patient care and resource utilization while the two hospital boards will be in charge of medical staff, material clinical changes, and relationships with foundations and volunteer auxiliary organizations.
The committee will consist of five independently elected directors from each of the Groves and NWHC boards, including the chairs of each board.
The chair of the committee will be chosen alternately from Groves and NWHC boards. NWHC chair Tom Sullivan was appointed as the first chair of the joint committee.
A key component of the new committee is a dispute resolution strategy that begins with voluntary negotiations, followed by non-binding mediation.
The hospitals must report any dispute not successfully resolved within 30 days of conclusion of mediation to the LHIN.
After filing a report to the LHIN, “provided both boards participated in mediation in good faith,” the NWHC and Groves boards may unilaterally terminate the alliance agreement with at least 12 months written notice.
