Santa Fe County's relationship with Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center will be the topic of discussion Wednesday at a public meeting hosted by the county's Health Policy and Planning Commission.

Santa Fe County contributes millions to the hospital annually for indigent care, allowing Christus St. Vincent to garner millions more in federal funding.

But that arrangement has come under increased scrutiny since Christus Health merged with the hospital in 2008, raising concerns that religious dogma was affecting policy there.

When citizens raised concerns about the issue at a recent County Commission meeting, Commissioner Virginia Vigil said she felt the Health Policy and Planning Commission would be a better venue in which to discuss the hospital.

Wednesday's meeting was scheduled to provide that opportunity, said Commissioner Liz Stefanics, a former director of the New Mexico Health Policy Commission. Stefanics joined the County Commission in January.

Stefanics — who sponsored a resolution passed by the commission Tuesday recommending the hospital open its board meeting to the public — said that, given the nearly $10 million the county contributes to Christus St. Vincent each year, she would like to see a greater level of transparency from the hospital board. The county passed a similar resolution last year, but the board's meetings remain closed.

"We're a private not-for-profit and that is not likely to change," Christus St. Vincent spokesman Arturo Delgado said Wednesday of the closed-meeting policy.

Stefanics said she hopes Christus St. Vincent Medical Center officials will use the meeting as an opportunity to address the community's standing concerns about end-of-life and family-planning services. She said she'd also like to hear them answer questions raised recently when doctors renegotiating their contracts with the hospital were given copies of contracts that said they must agree to comply with the "doctrinal and moral tradition of the Roman Catholic Church." Christus officials later said the document was only a template and wasn't the actual contract doctors signed. Delgado said Wednesday that it's not likely the hospital would be willing to produce a copy of the contract signed by physicians. "We don't discuss negotiations or contracts," he said.

"Hopefully it will be not just hearing what people's concerns are but also hearing from the hospital about what their current position is," Stefanics said.

Wednesday's meeting will be held at 1:30 p.m. in the County Commission Chambers, 102 Grant Ave.

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.