Joint Statement of the SMHD, NIHD Boards of Directors

Leaders from Northern Inyo Healthcare District and Southern Mono Healthcare District (Mammoth Hospital) at their second joint meeting. Back row, from left: Karma Bass of Via Healthcare Consulting; NIHD Board members Jean Turner, Laura Smith, Maggie Egan, David Lent, and Melissa Best-Baker; NIHD Executives Christian Wallis, Alison Murray and Allison Partridge; and SMHD Executive Mark Lind. Front row, from left: SMHD Board members Laurey Carlson, Joanne Hunt, and Dr. Yuri Parisky; SMHD executives Melanie Van Winkle and Zack Brown; SMHD board members Ryan Wood and Jennifer Burrows; and SMHD executive Caitlin Crunk.
Photos by Barbara Laughon/Northern Inyo Healthcare District

The Boards of Directors of Southern Mono Healthcare District and Northern Inyo Healthcare District met together in Bishop on September 10, 2026, for the second time this year, to continue building a working relationship between the two districts. Both meetings were open to the public.

The two districts serve neighboring communities in the Eastern Sierra, 45 minutes apart, and each operates an independent hospital. The Boards are not considering a merger. They are asking a simpler question: how can two small rural hospitals work together so that residents can get more of their care close to home?

In September, Board members and executives from both districts worked in small groups on what collaboration could make possible, the principles that should guide it, and which possibilities deserve a closer look first. The principles they described were consistent across every group: put patients first, make sure any collaboration benefits both districts, be transparent with each other, talk to each other before either hospital expands a service, and have legal counsel review everything.

The ideas that drew the most interest were keeping care local, adding specialty services that neither hospital could support on its own, shared education and training for staff and providers, making it easier for providers to work at either hospital, recruiting providers to the region together, and studying the feasibility of each idea together before committing to it.

NIHD Chief Operations and Nursing Officer Allison Partridge, far right, leads SMHD visitors on a tour of Northern Inyo Hospital. The group pauses in the hospital’s intensive care unit for a summary of the inpatient care offered at NIHD.

Much of this builds on work already underway. The two hospitals share education and training for their staff, worked together to create a Regional Women's Health Services CalRHT grant application, lend each other supplies when one runs short, and have nurses and providers who already work at both hospitals.

"There is clearly a lot of enthusiasm, and we are not here just to check a box," said Ryan Wood, a Southern Mono Healthcare District board member. "Everyone in the room really wants this to work. When we met in May, we thought we were planting a seed. It turns out the seed was already planted and is beginning to sprout."

David Lent, NIHD board vice chair, noted the cooperation already happening. "I do think there is much more collaboration than many of us realize," Lent said. "In our communities, there is more that unites us than divides us. The communication between the districts and the people doing this work will only continue to grow."

Nothing has been decided about any specific collaboration. Each idea will be reviewed for feasibility and by legal counsel, and the executive teams will take on a few at a time. Each Board will receive a monthly update from its Chief Executive Officer, and the two Boards plan to meet together again in January 2027.

Contact: Southern Mono Healthcare District: Ehren Goetz, Communication Strategist, 760.924.4200, Ehren.Goetz@mammothhospital.com