Snoqualmie Valley Hospital has passed another milestone on the path to affiliation, with the board’s OK of a Request for Proposals (RFP) June 8.

Public Hospital District No. 4’s Board of Commissioners approved the RFP unanimously, with one edit to emphasize the availability of the facility’s east campus.

Tom Parker, CEO of the hospital, said the board wanted to move up the mention of the east campus to be more prominent within the RFP.

“They want the potential affiliate partner to know that there is space on this campus to grow services,” he said. “I’m very pleased with the process thus far, our consultants have done a masterful job starting with the necessary fundamentals and making sure that is reflected throughout the process, it has also been a great process for the board and executive management team to focus on our strengths.”

With the RFP approved and sent to the organizations identified by the board as possible partners, the next step in the process is to wait. Parker expects to hear from the RFP recipients by June 23, on their intention to respond. The deadline for completed proposals is Aug. 11.

The hospital’s affiliation consultants will then create an analysis of all the proposals received as a way of comparing the various organizations and what they will offer.

“We can do a side-by-side evaluation of each of the respondents’ proposals, almost like a spreadsheet,” Parker said. “That helps the board to be able to do some comparisons…. All the board members and executive team will have copies of the proposals.”

During the next month, the board will finalize the criteria and process they will use to determine the finalists.

“It has not yet been determined, but it is likely that there will be some subset of the respondent who will be asked to make a presentation to the board,” Parker said. “The goal that we have talked about is that by the end of the year we will be in discussions with a preferred partner, but it’s hard to predict these processes.”

Since the beginning of the year, the hospital has held 12 public meetings addressing the affiliation project, including a recent public hearing for citizens to comment on the construction of the RFP.

Parker said the hospital will continue to encourage public involvement as the process moves forward.