St. Vincent Regional Medical Center president Alex Valdez has taken to quoting President Kennedy when talking about the hospital's possible partnership with CHRISTUS Heath, a Texas-based health care company.

"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining," Valdez attributed to Kennedy in a recent interview.

And that's what Valdez and other hospital officials hope to do financially with the proposed 50-50 partnership with CHRISTUS. Both organizations announced their intents to explore a partnership Nov. 7 and plan to make a decision by February.

"You want to have these talks when you're a strong organization," Valdez said. "You don't want to have them when you're a weak organization."

Valdez and hospital board members say it is not only time to merge but time to move beyond what is a locally controlled nonprofit hospital and gain experience, talent and efficiency by joining CHRISTUS.

The merger will bring financial stability, money for expansion and an affiliation with a ministry-based Catholic organization, supporters say. Many hospital employees and health care providers say the change is necessary, but that the loss of local control will require vigilant oversight — especially in areas of reproductive health, where the Catholic Church has been opposed.

Dr. Jack Zwemer, a pathologist who has worked at St. Vincent for 23 years and is a member of the board of directors, said it's difficult for a stand-alone, community hospital such as St. Vincent to survive in today's competitive environment.

"We want to do more than just survive," Zwemer said. "We want to thrive. We have a lot of plans for this place. We are trying to move health care forward in this community," he added.

Dr. Richard Lieberman, who used to run the emergency room at St. Vincent and now runs urgent care facilities in Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Española, said CHRISTUS could offer St. Vincent expertise in many areas.

Lieberman said working at St. Vincent became frustrating for him because there was a lack of consistency.

Too often, St. Vincent would hire an expensive consultant to work on an issue, and the consultant would just undo what the previous consultant had done, Lieberman said.

CHRISTUS, with its expertise, would help St. Vincent provide consistency, Lieberman said. Lieberman said he is a believer in faith-based medicine.

'A viable partner'

The search for a potential partner began about three years ago after hospital officials completed a strategic plan, Valdez said.

St. Vincent had a lower bond rating with companies such as Moody's Investors Service, and that made borrowing money more expensive. Now that rating is stable and the hospital has had a positive net margin for the past three years. With the hospital in sound financial shape, St. Vincent officials are in a much better position to negotiate with another company, Valdez said.

"Many stand-alone hospitals wait far too long to review a potentially innovative and new strategic direction, and consequently are often facing significant cash-flow challenges approaching bankruptcy levels," Dr. Thomas Royer, president and chief executive officer of CHRISTUS Health, said in his Internet blog. "In this wounded state, it is much more difficult to find a viable partner or a workable strategy."

Early this summer, the focus of the search settled on CHRISTUS, Valdez said.

CHRISTUS is a Catholic health care system with more than 40 hospitals and other health care facilities in more than 60 communities in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Mexico, according to the company.

The company's mission is to extend the healing mission of Jesus Christ, according to its Web site.

Royer said that mission was one of the main reasons CHRISTUS is interested in creating a partnership with St. Vincent.

The only other 50-50 partnership CHRISTUS has with a hospital is with Baptist St. Anthony in Amarillo, Texas, Royer said.

Mary Barlow, director of communications for BSA Healthcare in Amarillo, said the hospital's partnership with CHRISTUS started in the late 1990s, after High Plains Baptist Hospital and St. Anthony's Hospital, a Catholic facility, merged.

BSA owns 50 percent of the hospital, and CHRISTUS owns 50 percent of the hospital, Barlow said.

Barlow said she used to work for St. Anthony's, and has worked at that hospital and the merged hospital a total of 15 years.

The partnership with CHRISTUS has been extremely beneficial for the hospital, Barlow said. "They've let us shine," she said. "They let us do our thing. They've been a great partner."

U.S. News & World Report named Baptist St. Anthony one of the best hospitals in the country in 2006, Barlow said.

Baptist St. Anthony has between 2,000 and 3,000 employees, and about 200,000 people live in Amarillo, Barlow said.

By comparison, St. Vincent has about 1,740 employees, Valdez said. The estimated population of Santa Fe County in 2006 was 142,407, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Under the partnership, St. Vincent would become a Catholic hospital, officials have said. And there are about 57,000 Catholics in Santa Fe County, said Celine Radigan, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

Arturo Delgado, spokesman for St. Vincent, said the hospital's budget has grown from $188 million in fiscal year 2005 to $215 million in 2006 and $238 million this year.

Valdez said one of the reasons CHRISTUS is an excellent potential partner because of the financial resources the organization can bring to the hospital.

If the partnership becomes reality, CHRISTUS will be able to wipe out the hospital's debt of about $37 million, Valdez and Royer said.

Much of the hospital's debt comes from the development of the St. Vincent Cancer Center, the ongoing emergency room expansion, renovating emergency rooms and improving information systems at the hospital, Valdez said.

But officials are still working out the exact amount of money CHRISTUS would bring to St. Vincent, Valdez and Royer said.

One place the hospital would like to expand is on Santa Fe's south side, Valdez said.

St. Vincent opened Camino Entrada Pediatrics in a temporary building on the city's south side in the fall of 2006, Valdez said, and opened the facility in a permanent building in February 2007.

The hospital would like to expand more on the south side, Valdez said, and one possibility is a second hospital on that side of the city. But the hospital has taken no serious steps toward starting a second hospital, he said.

"The board hasn't considered it yet," Valdez said.

Also, since CHRISTUS has a large number of doctors and other health care employees already working in the system, a partnership with the organization would help St. Vincent recruit more employees, Valdez said.

With the exception of the St. Vincent leadership team, employees at St. Vincent would not become CHRISTUS employees, Royer said.

The number of doctors who work directly for the hospital has increased in the past two or three years from about 12 to 50, Valdez said.

Half of St. Vincent's board of directors would be made up of St. Vincent appointees and half CHRISTUS appointees, Delgado said. The chairman, appointed by the board, would break any ties, he said.

In terms of CHRISTUS' financial situation, Royer said CHRISTUS has been in strong financial health since it began Feb. 1, 1999.

The organization's operating margins have fluctuated at times, but the organization has had a strong balance at all times, Royer said.

CHRISTUS completed fiscal year 2007 with a net operating loss of $24.3 million, according to this year's financial report on the company's Web site.

The net operating loss was because of lower numbers of inpatients, the impact of Hurricane Rita and increasing numbers of uninsured patients, according to the company.

The organization ended fiscal year 2007 with a minus 0.9 percent operating margin, compared to a positive operating margin of 3.1 percent in fiscal year 2006, according to the report.

Catholic origins

St. Vincent and CHRISTUS have nearly identical roots.

The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati started St. Vincent in 1865, and in 1869, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word started a hospital in San Antonio that would later become CHRISTUS, Valdez said. Christus is Latin for Christ.

Monsignor Jerome Martinez y Alire, rector of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, said Catholics were the first to bring professional health care to New Mexico, and he hopes St. Vincent will continue the tradition of Catholic health care in the state.

And there is more to CHRISTUS than just brick-and-mortar heath care.

CHRISTUS also has an advocacy arm that lobbies the federal government and state governments on health care issues.

For example, the company has lobbied against using human embryonic stem cells, but fully supports using other types of stem cells, according to the company's Web site. The Catholic Church also opposes the use of human embryonic stem cells.

CHRISTUS is against using human embryonic stem cells because embryos are destroyed in the process of harvesting the stem cells, according to the company's Web site. Also, the cells have not produced any advances, according to the company.

Boyer said one of the reasons CHRISTUS is interested in St. Vincent is because the organization wants to expand its healing ministry.

Both CHRISTUS and St. Vincent are dedicated to providing excellent health care to everyone who walks in the door, regardless of their ability to pay, Royer said.

In addition, St. Vincent is in the organization's general geographic area, Royer said.

But while New Mexico is close to the other states and Mexico, CHRISTUS has no facilities in New Mexico, Royer said.

CHRISTUS officials would consider entering into other New Mexico health care facilities, Royer said. "Nothing is impossible, and we need to keep the doors open," he said.

DIRECTIVES FOR CATHOLIC HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS

• They may not participate in abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide or direct sterilization.

• They may not promote or condone contraceptive practices, but may provide information on natural family planning to married couples.

• In the case of rape, the victim may be treated with medications that would prevent ovulation, sperm capacitation or fertilization, if there is no evidence conception has occurred.

• Find the entire document at www.usccb.org/bishops/directives.shtml.

Catholic health, by the numbers

Number of Catholic acute-care hospitals in the United States: 615
Number of acute-care Catholic hospitals in New Mexico: 0
Percent of hospitals in the United States that are Catholic: 12.5
Percent of Catholic hospitals that are in metropolitan areas: 71
Number of Catholic health care systems such as CHRISTUS Health in the United States: 62

Source: Catholic Health Association of the United States fact sheet, "Catholic Health Care in the United States"