Desert Healthcare District Board of Directors vote to put billion-dollar Tenet Health lease proposal on November ballot
In a 6-1 vote, the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation board members agreed to add Tenet Health's billion dollar lease proposal to the November 5th ballot.
It comes after they agreed to add a resolution to their August 6th meeting agenda. The meeting was open to the public, and took place at 5:30 p.m. inside the University of California Riverside Palm Desert Campus, in the Building B Auditorium on 75080 Frank Sinatra Drive.
The board's vote now means the fate of Tenet's lease proposal will be in the public's hands.
"It is ultimately up to the residents of the district to vote on this lease, whether is accepted or not," said Desert Healthcare District and Foundation's CEO, Chris Christensen.
The decision to add the resolution to Tuesday's special meeting was made last Thursday at a community meeting that allowed the public to weigh in on the 30-year lease extension.
Tenet's new proposal outlines their payments to the Desert Healthcare District and Foundation totaling approximately $1 billion in investments, including $650 million dollars in lease payments alone.
"It's a public hospital, therefore the people have a vested interest in keeping that asset viable and accessible to them for the services they need," said Linda Evans, the Chief Strategy Officer for the Desert Care Network. "Between the $650 million lease payments and $220 million seismic retrofit that we will be paying for at no cost to taxpayers, along with the expansion at JFK Memorial Hospital, we just look forward to the community support," said Evans.
A prevalent point of contention at last week's meeting was the non-compete clause that's written into Tenet's lease proposal. Several dozen Desert Care Network employees attended the meeting, showing their support for Tenet's ownership of the District.
"I did not feel comfortable in having Eisenhower, which is considered a competitor, excluded from receiving district dollars in the future," said Leticia Delara, a member of the Desert Healthcare District's Board of Directors. "But I believe that what the board decided on today, it actually does allow the district to to work with Eisenhower and to have opportunities to be able to to to address the needs of the Coachella Valley, especially in the disadvantaged and hard to serve areas."
If the new lease agreement is passed by voters in November, it will lead to Tenet's full ownership of Desert Regional Medical Center by 2057.
"I know that when I did my pros and my cons, I had a page of each one," said Delara. "So there is so much to consider for voters."
In order to officially get the vote onto the ballot, the Board must send the ballot measure language to the Riverside County Voter of Registrars Office. The deadline to submit the language is this Friday.
