Originally published May 26, 2013 at 5:38 PM | Page modified May 26, 2013 at 9:17 PM

Leaders of UW Medicine, surprised by a barrage of criticism over a plan to affiliate with a Catholic system, are attempting to assure critics that the arrangement would not limit its services, particularly reproductive care or end-of-life services barred by Catholic ethical directives.

In a letter to UW Medicine board members late last week, Dr. Paul Ramsey, CEO of UW Medicine and dean of the University of Washington School of Medicine, referred to confusion over the proposal.

In the letter, which was quickly circulated among UW hospitals and employees, Ramsey said the planned strategic affiliation with PeaceHealth, a three-state system founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, was not like the merger of Providence (Health & Services) and Swedish (Medical Center), under which Providence is now responsible for the governance of Swedish.

Instead, he said, the UW-PeaceHealth arrangement would simply provide a more seamless referral network for PeaceHealth patients with complicated health issues to get care at UW Medicine, which includes the University of Washington and Harborview medical centers, Northwest Hospital & Medical Center and Valley Medical Center.

The proposed plan, which has not yet been formalized, will be designed to build programs in rural communities that would increase the range of care available to patients close to home, Ramsey said.

Peter Adler, chief strategy officer for PeaceHealth, said the UW Medicine-PeaceHealth affiliation would bring a full continuum of care, from primary to extremely complex, to more people in the region.

In a Q & A, UW Medicine said both it and PeaceHealth are transforming to become accountable care organizations, the HMO-like arrangements allowed by the new federal health law to give providers incentives for coordination of care and cost control.

Since the plan was announced May 20, critics of the arrangement, which comes amid a series of Catholic-secular health system affiliations, have contacted the UW alumni association, the School of Medicine and the office of Gov. Jay Inslee, who noted his concern about religious-secular mergers last week.

Some critics said they remain concerned that while the arrangement would help provide complex care at UW Medicine for PeaceHealth patients, those in rural communities where PeaceHealth is the sole health system still wont be able to access reproductive and end-of-life options barred by Catholic directives.

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UW Medicine tries to calm critics of link to Catholic health system