Make plans to attend and take part in:

• Free Health Screenings, Health Education and Demonstrations
• Refreshments and Giveaways
• Community Blood Drive

Enter for your chance to win an Amazon Kindle Fire tablet!

Participants include:

• Air Evac LifeTeam
• Texas Organ Sharing
• McAllen Vet. Center
• Area Agency on Aging
• American Cancer
• Pro-Medic Ambulance
• United Blood
• Hidalgo County Health Dept.
• Texas Oncology
• Valley Grande
• Lee’s Pharmacy – Sleep apnea supplies only
• Marshall Mobility
• Knapp Hospital – Diabetes Center
• Knapp Hospital – Imaging Services
• Knapp Hospital – Hospice Services
• Knapp Hospital – Nutrition Services
• Knapp Hospital – Cardiopulmonary Services
• Knapp Hospital – Wound Center

Victoria Palms Resort is located at 602 N. Victoria Road in Donna, Texas.

The Senior Health Fair is sponsored by Victoria Palms First Responders in conjunction with Knapp Medical Center.

Weslaco Needs the Hospital Authority to Waive the Deed Restriction and Allow Knapp’s Sale to STHS

Knapp Medical Center is at risk. A Weslaco Hospital Authority has been appointed to decide if a deed restriction will be waived thereby allowing the hospital to be sold to South Texas Health System (STHS). We need the Authority to waive the restriction.

STHS has committed to invest millions of dollars to improve the hospital, retain Knapp’s charity care policies, add significant tax revenue to the city’s coffers and put about $140 million in a Weslaco foundation. In addition, all bonds will be paid off and Knapp will become a designated Veterans Healthcare Facility. The people who will make this critical decision should not have a self-serving interest in holding back Knapp so that it can’t compete with area hospitals.

We Cannot Stand Alone.

The board of Knapp, a completely voluntary and unpaid body, has spent countless hours studying the future of Knapp. Our hospital is at risk of slowly deteriorating as we face the impact of healthcare reform, reduced payments and a fiercely competitive environment. We are convinced the sale of Knapp to STHS is an outstanding deal for Weslaco. The community should not allow anyone on the Authority who has any kind of conflict of interest to vote on or influence this important decision.

Stand Together in Weslaco – Waive The Sale Restriction

If you recognize that our city will have a better and more financially healthy hospital if allowed to merge with STHS, please express your opinion to Hospital Authority members and our City Commission.

STHS is in a position to invest money, maintain and expand services, retain jobs, and realize cost efficiencies associated with being in a system instead of just a stand-alone entity. We need this partnership and we will get the best deal for the community if we act now…not when the hospital deteriorates due to competitive forces coming at us from all directions.

Please stand with us and let the Authority and our Commissioners know you want an unbiased, fair-minded vote on the issue of waiving the hospital deed restriction.

Knapp needs to join with STHS.

Knapp needs to be allowed to grow and thrive.

Knapp needs those on the Authority with a conflict of interest to excuse themselves from the voting.

Please encourage the Commission to ask for conflict of interest disclaimers, and let’s move forward with an honest look at why a merger with STHS is the right choice for Weslaco.

–

From The Board of Directors of Knapp Medical Center

Download a printable PDF of this article.

THE THREATS TO OUR HOSPITAL

• More than 75 percent of our patients are Medicare and Medicaid, prime targets for government cuts which will hit us particularly hard as a standalone facility without the benefit of the economies of scale to help us reduce expenses and maximize services.
• Budget cuts in the Texas Medicaid program include significant reimbursement reductions to Knapp and upcoming reductions in the Federal Medicare program will reduce reimbursements even further.
• Many of the physicians who practice at Knapp have a financial interest in an Edinburg physician-owned hospital. Through their practices, Knapp has been continuously losing a disproportionate number of paying patients to this hospital while bad debt and charity patients have remained at Knapp.
• Ironically, these doctors with a financial interest in their physician-owned hospital are the primary source of disagreement to Knapp’s pending association with South Texas Health Systems (STHS) because of the threat it presents to their personal financial interest.
• As community members, we need to understand the real interests of this group of physician investors and not be deceived by rhetoric that is not supportive of our community. We need millions of dollars to invest in hospital improvements and evolving medical technology.
• Without change, we will experience continued erosion to competition, deterioration in services and programs, increased bad debt percentages, capital depletion and a host of other risks being experienced by standalone hospitals throughout the country.

COMMITMENT TO WESLACO

In the board’s search for the right system with which to align our hospital, we resolutely insisted that certain commitments be made to Weslaco. South Texas Health System (STHS), part of Universal Health Services, is our choice because they have made significant contractual commitments, such as the continuation of all needed services, including those for our underserved population; financial investment in hospital improvements and upgrades so that we can re-capture some of our lost volumes; and offers of employment to all Knapp employees on the same terms and conditions along with a comprehensive benefits package.

COMMUNITY BENEFITS HIGHLIGHTS

• Proceeds of approximately $140 million from the sale of the hospital will be placed in a Weslaco foundation expressly dedicated to the healthcare needs of our community. We plan to establish an advisory board with broad representation from throughout our community, to help us conduct a community needs assessment to determine how the funds will be used. A new foundation board will be created, as well.
• Hospital bonds will be paid off after the closing of the transaction.
• New taxes will flow into the community through an estimated $2 to $2.5 million per year increase in ad valorem. Sales tax collections will also increase.
• Over the next five years, STHS will invest at least $20 million in upgrades and improvements.
• STHS has committed to adopting Knapp’s charity care program, which is important to our mission and our underserved community.
• Knapp will benefit from being a part of a regional hospital system with economies of scale that can reduce our expenses through a purchasing consortium and put us in a much stronger position for years to come.
• Essentially all hospital staff will be offered positions.
• As part of a national system, Knapp will become a designated Veterans Healthcare Facility where our vets can receive services here at home instead of their having to travel out of town.

A FUTURE BUILT ON STRENGTH

The future of healthcare delivery includes consolidation and partnerships that are financially strong enough to withstand the impact of healthcare reform and reduction in reimbursement for services. Change is never easy, but we know that as a standalone facility, our hospital is at risk.

Our goal is to reduce that risk and ensure Knapp Medical Center is in a place of strength for our Weslaco community as part of a leading healthcare system.

It is important to us that you are aware of the careful thought and informed consideration we have put into this on behalf of the community. Please support our decision and help us preserve Knapp Medical Center so that Weslaco continues to have this crucial community asset.

Thank you.

The Knapp Medical Center Board of Directors

“This partnership is going to have a positive impact on the Rio Grande Valley’s access to comprehensive, quality healthcare,” said Douglas Matney, Regional Vice President of UHS. “These great facilities coming together to provide comprehensive medical services for the residents of the Valley will exceed expectations by continuing to provide the
quality treatment services that have kept us in the forefront of the healthcare industry for more than 30 years.”

“We are very excited about this wonderful opportunity to pair Knapp Medical Center with one of the best health systems in South Texas,” said John Lackey, chair, Knapp Medical Center Board of Directors. “Knapp already is known in the industry for quality care as an award-winning hospital, and this is going to make us – and the community of Weslaco –
even better.”

South Texas Health System’s strategic acquisition of KMC brings together two highly-complementary organizations to create a premier facilities-based comprehensive healthcare provider for residents of Weslaco and the Valley. UHS, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 25 acute care hospitals and 202 behavioral healthcare facilities and schools in 36 states, Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Knapp Medical Center is a 226-bed acute-care facility that opened in 1961. The hospital offers a wide range of services for residents of the Mid Valley region, and has received several awards, including “Most Wired” and “Most Improved” from the American Hospital Association. Knapp Medical Center will become part of a highly-acclaimed health system that also includes the region’s only two accredited chest pain centers, three certified stroke centers, a certified asthma center, a bariatric surgery Center of Excellence and the Valley’s first accredited inpatient rehabilitation care facility for adults and children.

UHS, a Fortune 500 company, is committed to the quality care of patients in the Rio Grande Valley. Proof of that can be seen through the overwhelming success of South Texas Health System. STHS has more than 600 physicians on the medical staff representing more than 45 medical specialties. STHS has partnered with the Heart Clinic, Valley Care
Clinics, and McAllen Hospitalist Group to bring 14 additional physicians to the Valley between 2009-2011, in areas including family practice/OB, hospitalists, gastroenterology, ENT, cardiology, pediatrics, and pediatric hematology/oncology.

About South Texas Health System:
South Texas Health System is owned and operated by a subsidiary of Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS), a King of Prussia, PAbased company. STHS facilities include Cornerstone Regional Hospital, Edinburg Children’s Hospital, Edinburg Regional Medical Center, Edinburg Regional Rehab Center, McAllen Heart Hospital, McAllen Medical Center and South Texas Behavioral Health Center.

About Knapp Medical Center
At Knapp Medical Center, a not-for-profit, acute care hospital, we place our patients first. We serve the people and communities of the Rio Grande Valley striving always to provide the very finest quality healthcare available.

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During the service you will have an opportunity to announce the name of your loved one and light a candle in their memory. Also, place a flower into a receptacle to form a beautiful floral arrangement hat will symbolize the diversity of lives that have passed on. A variety of flowers will be available or bring one from your own garden. A reception will follow the service.