Watch your mail. Managing Editor Tami Roleff says the ballots to approve the affiliation of Hi-Desert Medical Center with Tenet Healthcare have been mailed out…
The Hi-Desert Medical Center began mailing ballots Friday to all registered voters in the Morongo Basin who live within the boundaries of the healthcare district. Voters will have until June 23 to return their ballots by mail to vote on whether to approve the hospital’s affiliation with Tenet Healthcare. Assuming the ballot measure passes, Tenet will begin leasing the hospital effective July 1. Hospital District Board Member Joe Sullivan told the Yucca Valley Town Council that no taxes will be used or imposed during the transaction. The lease agreement will keep the hospital open for at least the next 30 years, and all 600 hospital employees who are in good standing will retain their jobs. The healthcare district will operate separately from the hospital, and will use the proceeds from the rent payments and other income to promote health care in the district. The healthcare district includes nearly all of the Morongo Basin except Morongo Valley. Mayor George Huntington said approving the lease agreement was “a no-brainer.”
