California Healthline Highlights Recent Hospital News
Alameda Hospital's revenue is increasing as new equipment, services and doctors have attracted more patients, the Contra Costa Times reports.
According to hospital CEO Stu Jed, hospital operations in the first four months of the current fiscal year are "on target or a little ahead" of the hospital's $612,425 budget.
Surgeries at the hospital have increased by about 60% since July, and imaging services increased by 20% to 30% after the hospital purchased a state-of-the-art CT scanner. Other new services at the hospital, such as intravenous treatments for cancer and other illnesses, are expected to attract more patients.
Jed said an audit of FY 2004-2005 likely "will be close to, or better than, budget." The audit will be released next month.
If current trends continue, it will be the first time in five years that the hospital does not report a loss at the end of the year, according to the Contra Costa Times (Fuller, Contra Costa Times, 11/22).
Kaiser Permanente has acquired a 63-acre site in San Leandro where it plans to build a hospital to replace Hayward Medical Center, which does not fully meet state seismic safety standards, the East Bay Business Times reports.
Details for the site have not been finalized, but the new hospital likely will include about 300 beds, a range of acute care services, medical, surgical and critical care, and outpatient services, according to Colleen McKeown, Kaiser Permanente senior vice president and manager of the greater southern Alameda area. An estimate on the cost of the hospital was not released.
Kaiser officials said construction is expected to begin in 2008 and be completed by 2012 (Thomas, East Bay Business Times, 11/21).
The Kaweah Delta Hospital board on Friday voted to award a $93 million construction contract to Hensel Phelps Construction for expansion of its north tower, the Fresno Bee reports. Under a financing plan also adopted Friday, the hospital will use $20 million from its reserve fund to help finance the project, in addition to a $51 million bond approved by voters in 2003.
Construction is scheduled to begin in January, and officials expect the project to be completed in mid-2008.
The total cost of the expansion is estimated at about $134 million. The original estimate of the cost in 2003 was $106 million, but higher fuel and building material prices have made the "construction bid climate ... dramatically different than it was three years ago," according to hospital CEO Lindsay Mann (Sheehan, Fresno Bee, 11/19).
Marshall Medical Center and Blue Cross of California on Friday announced a multiyear contract with new insurance payment rates, the Sacramento Bee reports. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Marshall officials said they were seeking payment increases equal to at least 90% of what the insurer paid other hospitals in the region.
A hospital official said the deal represents a compromise after difficult negotiations (Wasserman, Sacramento Bee, 11/19).