Outdated District
Valley Health System (VHS) stands alone – and not in a good way.
Most healthcare districts in California receive revenue through annual property tax assessments that help pay for their hospitals’ operations. Of 60 public healthcare districts in California, VHS is the only one that does not receive any share of revenues from property tax assessments to help it pay for the high levels of unpaid or underpaid medical services it provides to the community.
Most of California’s public healthcare districts were formed in the 1940’s.
Today, virtually every healthcare district in California is struggling to survive. About one third of California’s healthcare districts have leased, sold or closed their hospitals.
Valley Health System was created in 1946 to bring services to rural and underserved communities. Those communities are now cities. Farmlands are now housing subdivisions. Dirt roads have become freeways.
Valley Health System is a Model-T ford that stalled decades ago on the healthcare highway.
We need a new vehicle to carry our hospitals into the future, one that can keep pace with the changing realities of healthcare.
Building a flexible structure to keep pace with the rapidly changing healthcare market will allow our hospitals to flourish.
It’s the right medicine for the future.