Escondido, Calif.-based Palomar Health, a publicly owned system with two hospitals, is considering taking on an outside management services company to better compete in an increasingly crowded market and separate politics from hospital operations, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Hospital directors on Nov. 13 voted 5-2 in favor of the idea, allowing Palomar's executive team to identify a potential management services company and negotiate a potential agreement.
Any proposal would be brought back to the board for public discussion and a vote, according to the report.
Palomar CEO Diane Hansen floated the idea of partnering with a healthcare management company that would appoint a separate board of executives to operate the health system.
"We're talking about being able to be more nimble, to be able to come to the table in a quicker fashion to build strategy and create growth," Ms. Hansen told the Union-Tribune. "It's creating that stability for hospital operations, taking that out of the election cycle."