California Healthline Highlights Recent Hospital News
Bakersfield Memorial Hospital nurses will strike on Dec. 5 if a contract is not reached, the Bakersfield Californian reports (Hagedorn, Bakersfield Californian, 11/21). Nurses on Saturday voted to authorize a one-day strike (Hagedorn, Bakersfield Californian, 11/18).
Diane Hirsch-Garcia, contract negotiator for the California Nurses Association, said the nurses informed the hospital of their decision on Tuesday.
Nurses and the hospital have agreed to financial terms of a contract, but CNA wants Memorial to adopt its master agreement with Catholic Healthcare West because that agreement includes provisions on mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios (Bakersfield Californian, 11/21).
Officials at Children's Hospital Central California on Friday announced that the hospital has received a $1 million donation that will be used to initiate an endowment for the heart center, the Fresno Bee reports.
The donation was received from a Georgia businesswoman and philanthropist in honor of her daughter, who works at the hospital with her husband.
The Children's Hospital Heart Center will be named the Jane Seddon Wilson Heart Center at Children's Hospital in honor of the donor (Correa, Fresno Bee, 11/18).
Executives and board members of Doctors Medical Center spent more than $50,000 in expenses over three years as the county-owned hospital struggled financially, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Hospital CEO Irwin Hansen said that the expenses, including meal and travel costs, were necessary to cultivate relationships with clients and employees (Huff, Contra Costa Times, 11/19).
The California Medical Assistance Commission on Nov. 2 approved a plan that will keep the hospital open by providing as much as $20 million annually (California Healthline, 11/3).
Blue Cross of California said it has submitted its final offer for a contract with John Muir Health in the east San Francisco Bay Area, the Contra Costa Times reports. The insurer and hospital system last month agreed to a temporary contract extension while they continued to negotiate financial terms and other conditions.
Tammy Taylor -- a spokesperson for WellPoint, Blue Cross' parent company -- said the insurer will assume John Muir has rejected the contract offer if it does not receive an answer by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
As many as 36,500 Blue Cross members could be affected if the contract is not renewed (Avalos, Contra Costa Times, 11/21).
A master agreement between Catholic Healthcare West and the California Nurses Association applies to nurses at Mercy hospitals after CNA members on Monday voted to approve a contract proposal, the Bakersfield Californian reports. The contract includes provisions on:
- Nurse-to-patient ratios;
- Retiree health benefits; and
- Wage parity.
The family of a former patient has donated $5 million to Mission Hospital to help construct a new neuroscience floor, the Los Angeles Times reports. The floor will be constructed next year.
The donation is the largest in the hospital's history.
The family of Adam Williams previously donated $2.5 million to fund surgical suites and the development of the Adam Williams Traumatic Brain Injury initiative (McKibben, Los Angeles Times, 11/22).
Dr. Prim Reddy, the new owner of Paradise Valley Hospital, last week presented to hospital staff his plan to improve the hospital's emergency department and increase nursing staff and physician oversight, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Reddy, who owns several hospitals, said that the hospital will begin caring for out-of-plan HMO patients and deny transfer requests from HMOs seeking to move members to hospitals operating within their plan. The majority of the hospital's patients are underinsured or uninsured.
The hospital lost $7.5 million from January 2005 through June (Darcé, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/19).