The Guttenberg (Iowa) Municipal Hospital board will begin drafting a management services agreement to align with Des Moines, Iowa-based Mercy Health Network.
The proposed agreement would remain in effect for at least two years. Under the proposal, GMH physicians would remain employees of GMH. The 25-bed hospital would also receive support from MHN's corporate rural healthcare division, according to GMH's letter to hospital employees and community members dated June 30.
During the nine-month review process, a GMH task force indentified 18 potential partners and conducted interviews with seven of the candidates. Officials entered into negotiations with three health systems: MHN, West Des Moines, Iowa-based UnityPoint Health and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.
"The big difference is [MHN's] support for the rural hospital," Karen Merrick, a GMH board member, told The Clayton County Register. "From the beginning, they have had that rural division at the corporate level, so we would have the ability to work with other hospitals within that network to share resources and solve problems jointly."