Candidate for
Director; Marin Healthcare District

First, I am running -- along with Hank Simmonds, M.D. -- to retain intact our strong, unified, respectful and hardworking Board - which is needed to rebuild Marin General Hospital to be seismically safe by 2020, and to modernize Marin General Hospital so as to be capable of delivering health care in this new day and age.

By way of background, under state law, Marin General Hospital has until 2020 to ensure that it is capable of withstanding a major earthquake and remains operational after the quake. Marin General Hospital is sited near a major earthquake fault line. In the event of a natural disaster such as an earthquake, our residents will need to have a stellar local hospital such as Marin General Hospital, which will be self-sufficient. We cannot rely on transporting patients out of the county for medical care.

And, at 60 years of age, Marin General Hospital is out-of-date as a hospital, and its age restricts its ability to provide optimal health care. It needs to be rebuilt to be capable of delivering greater quality and safety-oriented care to both our current residents and future generations.

Second, rebuilding Marin General Hospital into a state-of-the-art hospital plays a key role in attracting young physicians into our community to replace our aging physician. This strengthens our ability to expand primary care for our residents. Currently, Marin General Hospital has the only in-county labor and delivery program, neurosurgical service, cardiac surgery service, mental health beds and trauma center. We need to update our hospital facilities to retain these vital services.

Third, we are running to ensure that Marin General Hospital is positioned to adapt and thrive in the face of the changing reimbursement methodologies and relationships between hospitals, physicians and health plans in the wake of health care reform (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act + known as PPACA or ACA).

With health care reform, the relationships have changed. It is no longer a hospital vs. physician vs. health plan equation. Rather, these entities are being pushed to collaborate and form accountable care organizations (Medicare product) and accountable care collaborations (non-Medicare product) with the goal of improving care coordination and improving utilization and outcomes. This is to be accomplished by moving away from fee-for-service reimbursement, and towards bundled capitated payments for episodes of care with the financial risks shared by the hospital, physicians and health plans for a certain number of covered lives.

As a result, we are all in this together as partners and collaborators to improve care and reduce costs. These new reimbursement and care delivery models require foresight of thought and strategy with a unified and stable Board, working hand in hand with Marin General Hospital to serve the needs of our Marin County residents.

In summary, the County of Marin is facing a critical juncture for Marin General Hospital in terms of serving the health care needs of our residents. We need a stable, unified, respectful and hardworking Board to ensure that we are able to rebuild the hospital and adapt to the changing reimbursement and health care delivery models with health care reform.

By voting for Ann Sparkman and Hank Simmonds, you are ensuring the successful future of Marin General Hospital for all of our Marin County residents.