KALH Radio Investigative Series: Christus Health and Gerald Champion Medical Center Who? What? Why?

A press release quietly recently released a potential change to the Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center released by the medical center and Christus Health. 

Quiet in its intend, but the reality a change in leadership of the medical center is significant. It potentially could be major change to the region in the level offerings, jobs creation, and services offered by the local medical center and its affiliates. The political establishment and the business community has been tight lipped to date on what the potential impact could be. 

AlamogordoTownNews.com and KRAZY KALHradio.org has received several inquiries from community members and health care professionals asking us to dig deeper into who the players are and what the community impact could be. Today's story covers a bit of history and insight into the players. Future stories will dig deeper into the movers and shakers behind this change and get input from those on the inside, as well as the political establishment and health care providers.

Some background on GCRMC...

Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center is a general hospital, owned and operated by the non-profit Otero County Hospital Association, that serves the Alamogordo, New Mexico area. 

It is the first military/civilian shared hospital facility in the United States.

GCRMC is accredited by the Det Norske Veritas. It opened in 1949, and in 2008 it was the largest non-governmental employer in Alamogordo, with 650 employees.

This historical significance has caused some locals in the community to pause and question an announcement from May 5th, 2023, of a potential partnership with Christus Health. Some have called for the local Otero County, New Mexico Commission and the Alamogordo City Commission to call on Christus leadership to meet before the commission and to host public hearings on the potential impact to local health care.

With the opening of its new facility in 1999, GCRMC became the first hospital in the United States shared by active-duty military personnel and civilians. Air Force physicians from Holloman Air Force Base are credentialed at the hospital to admit and treat Department of Defense beneficiaries. The Air Force contributed $7 million for equipment for the new hospital in 1998 and DoD patients get substantial discounts at the hospital, with a guaranteed recovery of $7 million within the first seven years of this partnership operation.

Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center has signed a nonbinding letter of intent to join Irving, Texas-based Christus Health.

The two entities will now enter negotiations and plan to reach a final agreement by early summer, according to a May 5 news release. Rural community hospitals like 98-bed Gerald Champion have faced the "strongest headwinds" in the evolving healthcare industry, according to Norm Arnold, chair of its board of trustees.

The hospital hopes to leverage the strength of the Christus network to invest in capital improvements, expand recruitment and retention efforts, and grow clinical capabilities to better serve the community. "After a thorough, 18-month planning process, it is clear CHRISTUS can support our long-term goals while truly aligning with our mission and strengthening our already solid operational and financial foundation," said Jim Heckert, the hospital's CEO.

Lillie Lewis, a spokeswoman with Gerald Champion, told the Journal the move to join Christus Health "gives us additional support to increase services in the community." She added that joining a larger health system "puts the medical center in a stronger economic position for the future."

Gerald Champion is presently an independent, nonprofit Level III trauma hospital based in Alamogordo, though it serves a larger slice of South-Central New Mexico, with its 160 providers and 1,000 staff.

The medical center, according to the news release, provides 28 specialty care and primary clinics, more than 30 medical and surgical specialties, service lines to include urgent care, wound care, cardiac lab and interventional radiology, as well as a 98-bed acute care facility.

Who is Christus Health?

Christus Health is spread across Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico. It also has operations in Mexico, Chile and Colombia. In New Mexico, the health system operates Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe.

Christus Health is an international Catholic, faith-based, not-for-profit health system comprising almost 350 services and facilities, including more than 60 hospitals and long-term care facilities, 175 clinics and outpatient centers and dozens of other health ministries and ventures. Its corporate headquarters are in Irving, Texas.

The present company was formed on January 28, 1999, by the merger of Houston's Sisters of Charity Health Care System and San Antonio's Incarnate Word Health System; however its history extends back to 1866, with the founding of St. Mary's Hospital in Galveston, Texas, by the Sisters of Charity religious institute.

Another significant merger came in 2016 when CHRISTUS merged with Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals and Clinics (itself the product of a merger of two Catholic-based systems), giving it a major presence in East Texas. Christus Health services can be found in 60 cities in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, and New Mexico in the U.S.; also, in the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Health Network in Santiago, Chile, and Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, and Tamaulipas in Mexico.

The system employs approximately 30,000 people and has more than 9,500 physicians on facility medical staff who provide care and support for patients. Christus Health is listed among the top ten Catholic health systems in the U.S.

The organization has grown from $4.5 billion to over $8 billion in assets under management during that period and has expanded from impacting 3.8 to 6.3 million people.

From an employment standpoint the company has a solid reputation according to ZIPPIA,

“Christus Health is an international Catholic, faith-based, not-for-profit health system comprising almost 350 services and facilities, including more than 60 hospitals and long-term care facilities, 175 clinics outpatient centers.

The staff at CHRISTUS Health come from unusually diverse demographic backgrounds. The organization is 70.3% female and 49.5% ethnic minorities. The diversity in CHRISTUS Health employees extends to employee political beliefs. Its employees are politically diverse and represent a balanced blend of political orientations, with 49.6% Democrats and 50.4% Republicans. Despite their political differences, employees at CHRISTUS Health seem to be happy. The organization has great employee retention with staff members usually staying for 5.7 years. The average employee at CHRISTUS Health makes $53,751 per year. In comparison, some of its highest paying competitors, like Dignity Health, Bassett Healthcare Network, and Centene, pay $63,261, $62,846, and $58,575, respectively.”

Politically according to Open Secrets Christus Health spent $440,000.00 in 2020 and the same amount in 2021 in governmental lobbying efforts.

In 2022 it spent direct lobbying money as per below…

During the 2022 election cycle for Congress 70.75% of its contributions were for Republican candidates and 29.25% went to Democratic Congressional Candidates.

We now know the who and the what, what we are yet to discover is the why and does the community benefit by this strategic change. This is an evolving story and AlamogordoTownNews.com and KALHRadio.org has inquiries into local political leaders and representatives of Christus Health and Gerald Champion Medical Center. Stay tuned for more upcoming updates and information.

More News from Alamogordo

• New Mexico HB 153 Protect Reporters Act Moves to Committee HB 153 an important safeguard to protect journalistic freedoms.
• Lady Tigers Wrestling Competed in Region 2 Championships in Belen Alysa Hinds (235 lbs) qualified for State Tournament, finishing 4th in her weight class.