Has Kootenai Health outgrown the hospital district model?

Hospital releases white paper, plans forum on possible conversion to a nonprofit

Kootenai Health’s leadership is poised to decide whether the hospital district should transition from being government-owned to a nonprofit organization. But some feel the decision may be too hasty.

Kootenai Health not for sale

Kootenai Health leadership shut down speculation this week that another entity is preparing to buy the hospital. “There are no discussions with any health care organization to purchase Kootenai Health,” hospital CEO Jon Ness said Tuesday. Readers have reached out to The Press asking for clarity on rumors circulating about a potential purchase. Meanwhile, local blogs have alluded to Kootenai Health’s partnership with MultiCare Health System, a not-for-profit health care organization based in Tacoma, Wash.

Kootenai Health leaders will not attend forum

Republican women's group sponsoring meeting Saturday

In a Nov. 9 letter to Mattare, Kootenai Health Trustee Katie Brodie and CEO Ness declined an invitation to attend Saturday’s forum. They wrote that discussing the situation publicly would be premature.

MY TURN: From crisis to crisis with no loss of enthusiasm

For more than two years, Kootenai Health has been in a state of crisis management; first with the COVID-19 pandemic response, then (and still) with a health care labor shortage, and now with related financial recovery. The idea of moving from one challenge to the next without loss of enthusiasm has been attributed to both Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Both leaders were famous for plain language and inspiring encouragement through difficult times.

The state of hospitals post COVID-19

In 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone was searching for information.