SALINAS - Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital explained why it opted out of affiliating with Natividad Medical Center after almost a year of affiliation negotiations with multiple hospitals.
SVMH has come under scrutiny for some of its financial decisions lately.
In December of 2010, it started laying off about 200 workers.
Then in April of last year, its former CEO Sam Downing came under fire for getting nearly a $4 million retirement package, making him the highest paid public hospital official in the state.
Meanwhile, workers protested during union negotiations.
And in August of last year, SVMH started looking at affiliation with another hospital.
But SVMH said the merger was never about money.
It said it was all about what's best for its patients.
In other words, SVMH looked.
"We owed it to the people of this district to explore the idea of affiliation," said Adrienne Laurent of Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital.
But it didn't touch.
"Affiliation does not make sense for Salinas Valley Memorial," Laurent said.
She said the last hospital standing, Natividad Medical Center, doesn't offer it what it needs, at least for now.
"The board decided we needed a partner that could provide the capital to build a new hospital building, which we will need by 2030," Laurent said.
And she said Natividad didn't guarantee employees and unions would be protected after the merge, and SVMH isn't in dire straights.
SVMH said it will operate as a stand-alone hospital, but is still open to merging in the future.
