Pioneers Memorial Hospital and Scripps Announce Affiliation Negotiations

Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District’s (PMHD) Board of Directors on Monday evening unanimously voted to pursue an affiliation arrangement with Scripps Health in San Diego, California. The announcement follows discussions surrounding a Request for Information sent in March of this year to several major acute care providers in San Diego seeking expressions of interest in affiliating with PMHD. While several excellent responses were received, the PMHD Board determined that, as part of its strategic initiative to improve access to care for Imperial Valley residents, the best choice would be an affiliation relationship with Scripps.

The parties anticipate that an agreement outlining the core services associated with the relationship will be finalized in the coming months. “Our primary goal continues to focus on the quality of care available to residents and visitors in Imperial Valley,” said Catalina Alcantra-Santillan, President of Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District Board of Directors. “Our objective is to secure the highest quality and local availability of healthcare in our community. Through our work with Scripps, we expect to achieve that objective.”

PMHD has the opportunity to recognize significant benefits from this affiliation including enhanced leadership training and development and assistance with service line development including access to Scripps specialty physicians not available locally. Under the anticipated affiliation arrangement, PMHD will continue to run as an independent hospital and will not change the current local governance structure.

“We are pleased to be working with Pioneers Memorial Healthcare District toward an agreement that will provide the Imperial Valley with an enhanced level of care,” said Chris Van Gorder, Scripps president and CEO. “This is a strong move by PMHD’s leadership to serve their community now and into the future.”