2 Major Hospitals Plan to Join Forces : Health Care: Queen of the Valley and Inter-Community Medical Center will become ‘Citrus Valley Health Partners.’ They will share managers, staffs and services instead of competing for patients.

A proposed merger between former rivals--West Covina’s Queen of the Valley Hospital and Covina’s Inter-Community Medical Center--will create the second-largest health care provider in the San Gabriel Valley.

The two hospitals are scheduled to merge as a new nonprofit entity on April 29, under the name “Citrus Valley Health Partners,” according to an agreement signed last week. The consolidation agreement is subject to approval by state and federal agencies and the filing of routine legal agreements.

Citrus Valley Health Partners will provide a total of 532 beds; by comparison, Pasadena’s Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena--the valley’s largest--has 606 beds and Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center has 449.

The merger means that each hospital will share managers, staffs and services instead of competing for patients, said Maureen L. O’Connor, president and chief executive officer of Inter-Community.

“I think the community benefits, knowing that the boards of directors are so committed to having quality service in place that they’re willing to set aside their differences and work together on a plan that will keep us both secure in the future,” said O’Connor, who will become executive vice president of the merged organization.

The two hospitals, which are 4 1/2 miles apart, will keep their current medical centers. But Queen of the Valley, which was founded as a nonprofit Catholic hospital, will continue its policy of not providing abortions or vasectomies, officials said. And Inter-Community will continue to provide those services as well as chaplains of different faiths, O’Connor said.

No layoffs are expected immediately, although staffing will be reviewed as the merger gets under way, said Peter E. Makowski, president and chief executive officer of Queen of the Valley. Makowski, who will become chief executive officer of the merged organization, said any staff cutbacks would involve departments outside patient care, such as the business office. In the long run, Makowski said, employees at both hospitals will have more job security under the new organization.

“If we don’t do this, if we continue our independent paths, both organizations are going to suffer as a result,” he said. “I’d say employment is more threatened by doing (nothing).”

Under the merger, patients at each hospital will be able to keep their own doctors but may be routed to the other medical centers for some services. Managers are working on consolidating services and eliminating some duplication, although each center will provide basic acute care, O’Connor said.

And, in some cases, one hospital will offer services that the other doesn’t. Queen of the Valley, for instance, provides an acute physical rehabilitation program while Inter-Community has an open-heart surgery program. Currently, about 80% of each hospital’s doctors are also on staff at the other hospital.

During the past few years, the competitive health care arena has prompted each hospital to consider merger possibilities, officials said. In December, boards at each hospital began serious discussions.

“It’s quite clear that free-standing hospitals are going to be at a disadvantage with whatever kind of overarching system that health care reform takes,” O’Connor said. “Currently, free-standing hospitals are having a difficult time in some areas, keeping up with all the changes that HMOs bring down the pike.”

Officials said they do not know yet whether fees or service charges will change.

The Deal

Two major San Gabriel Valley hospitals--Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina and Inter-Community Medical Center in Covina--plan to merge April 29 under the name “Citrus Valley Health Partners.”

Queen of the Valley Hospital

Employees: 1,400

Beds: 263

Founded: 1962

1993 budget: $95 million

Inter-Community

Medical Center

Employees: 1,100

Beds: 269

Founded: 1922

1993 budget: $82 million