California Healthline Highlights Recent Hospital News
Palmdale city officials have filed for a writ of mandate in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to declare null and void Antelope Valley Hospital District's bid for the 30-acre site where a rival Universal Health Services project is being built, the Los Angeles Daily News reports.
The city also requested that future hospital discussions be held on site during regularly scheduled open meetings (Skeen, Los Angeles Daily News, 8/18).
Registered nurses at four Sutter Health hospitals have ratified two-year contracts that guarantee pay increases of between 12% and 18%, the Sacramento Bee reports. The Loma Linda City Council on Wednesday postponed a vote on the proposed 28-bed, for-profit California Heart and Surgical Hospital until Sept. 6, the Los Angeles Times reports. After recovering from $1 billion in losses prior to 2001, Catholic Healthcare West is beginning to focus on growth, advancing plans to broaden its reach and strengthening ties with its doctors, the San Francisco Business Times reports. Effective Aug. 10, Blue Shield of California terminated its contract with Dameron Hospital to provide services for its HMO members, the Stockton Record reports. Eden Medical Center and Palo Alto Medical Foundation have joined with Triad Partners to begin construction on Dublin Gateway Medical Center, which will provide health and fitness services, the Oakland Tribune reports. Doctors at Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa and Health Net have reached an agreement on a new contract that will run through 2007, ending a dispute that "threatened to disrupt medical care" for 10,000 Health Net HMO members, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports. The site of the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, which closed in 1994, is being offered in an online auction that began Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The site is "157 acres of prime real estate in one of the sweetest locations in the city," the Chronicle reports. The San Bruno Veteran Affairs Clinic -- an outpatient facility affiliated with the San Francisco VA Medical Center -- on Tuesday opened in San Mateo County, the San Mateo County Times reports. The Santa Clara Valley Medical Center is training about 50 physicians to recognize patients who need help with reading or simply understanding medical terminology though its Prescribing Health Literacy Program, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
Nurses at Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo will receive 16% raises, while St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco will offer an 18% raise to nurses. Nurses at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley will receive a 12% raise over two years (Chan, Sacramento Bee, 8/23). Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley will offer nurses a 13% raise over two years, as well as additional benefits (Holzmeister, Oakland Tribune, 8/24).
Supporters of the hospital have said it would provide needed hospital beds and would improve patient care in the area, but opponents, including Loma Linda University Medical Center, have said the hospital would "siphon the area's wealthy and well-insured patients," the Times reports.
Three of the City Council's five members have recused themselves from voting because of ties with LLUMC. City Council members drew straws to decide that Mayor Floyd Petersen, who teaches at the university, would cast the third vote (Los Angeles Times, 8/25).
KPCC News on Wednesday reported on the hearing. The segment includes comments from Sharon Jefferies, head of Redlands Community Hospital; Allen Gustafson, chair of the proposed hospital; and former mayor Karen Hansberger (Cuevas, KPCC News, 8/24). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
CHW hopes to expand and improve outpatient services, outreach, physician infrastructure and the chain's ability to expand access for the poor and uninsured (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 8/22).
In addition, the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal examined concerns among health care experts and industry officials about possible effects of CHW's recent nurse labor agreement on future compensation packages and staffing (Cutland, Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, 8/22).
The contract termination could affect more than 23,400 Blue Shield HMO members living within 15 miles of Dameron. About 18,600 Blue Shield PPO members still are eligible to use the hospital but likely will have to pay higher rates.
Blue Shield will continue to cover inpatient orthopedic surgeries at Dameron. In addition, Blue Shield CalPERS members can continue to use Dameron (Goldeen, Stockton Record, 8/19).
A ground-breaking ceremony was held on Aug. 19 for the proposed three-building, three-story complex on 7.1 acres at Koll Dublin Corporate Center. Triad will construct the 63,000-square-foot fitness and wellness center with two adjoining medical office buildings totaling 115,000 square feet.
The office buildings, to be built in two phases, will be split with the first 59,000-square-foot building leased to Eden. That building is expected to open in 2007.
After a study of specific community needs, Eden will create an outpatient and ambulatory care center and provide a variety of other medical services. Eden and Palo Alto are expected to provide physicians and services covering primary care, family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, urgent care, laboratory and x-rays.
The Lifestyle Rx Wellness Center, unaffiliated with Eden or Palo Alto, will be a fitness center with memberships open for children, adults and seniors (Holzmeister, Oakland Tribune, 8/20).
Health Net on Tuesday said it will continue to pay about 60 Memorial-affiliated physicians on a fee-for-service basis. The contractual dispute had centered on whether doctors would be paid on a fee-for-service basis or moved to a managed care system (Rose, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 8/24).
The bidding is expected to exceed $30 million. The site was auctioned in 2002 for $22.5 million to the Greater St. Paul Baptist Church of Oakland, but the financing deal was never completed (Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/22).
Enrollment in the clinic began on Saturday, and 51 veterans received health screenings, according to Gene Gibson, a spokesperson for the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
The clinic will provide qualified veterans with primary and mental health care at low or no cost, as well as prescription drugs with a maximum copayment of $7. The 6,550 square-foot facility has six to eight examination rooms and a small medical staff with a part-time psychiatrist.
Gibson said the clinic will continue to expand (Morente, San Mateo County Times, 8/24).
Upon recognizing a problem, doctors refer patients to the hospital's Community Learning Center, where they can receive help from tutors. Tutoring materials are available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese at a range of reading levels.
The project is funded by $30,000 in grants received this spring from the Health Trust of Santa Clara County and the Valley Foundation (Navas, Mercury News, 8/23).