WA's Valley General Hospital wants a partner

After four consecutive years of financial losses, Valley General Hospital in Monroe, WA, is asking eight large health care organizations if any of them are interested in a business partnership. The deals could include anything from providing additional medical services to leasing the hospital or buying it outright, said Mike Liepman, Valley's CEO. Interested health care organizations will have about a month to respond, he said. Valley will take two months to consider the proposals and then decide whether to go ahead with more formal talks or to abandon the idea and remain as an independent community hospital, he said.