California Healthline Highlights Recent Hospital News
Kaiser Permanente on Monday announced that construction of its Antioch Medical Center is scheduled to finish on time in November 2007, the Contra Costa Times reports.
The hospital will provide outpatient care in neurology, cardiology and nephrology, and gastrointestinal and lung disorders. The hospital will set aside 20 of its 142 patient beds for the intensive care unit and 20 beds for a delivery unit (Coetsee, Contra Costa Times, 1/9).
Contra Costa County Regional Medical Center on Monday planned to submit a correction plan to CMS after agency officials threatened to cancel the hospital's Medicare and Medi-Cal contracts after a recent failed inspection, the Contra Costa Times reports.
The inspection found violence in the hospital's psychiatric unit, unsanitary food handling and a failure to analyze medication errors in the pharmacy. The contracts will be canceled by March 15 if the correction plan is not approved. The loss of funding likely would close the hospital, according to the Times (Kleffman, Contra Costa Times, 1/6).
Sutter Health is donating $300,000 to the Marin Community Clinic for the expansion at an additional site in Greenbrae as part of Sutter's goal to improve its charitable image, the San Francisco Business Times reports. The new clinic will be used primarily for pediatric services and is estimated to cost $400,000.
The not-for-profit clinic provides low or no-cost medical services to approximately 45,000 low-income Marin County residents annually (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 1/5).
Mendocino Coast Hospital will remain open after obtaining critical access status in October and posting a profit in November, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports.
Hospital CEO Raymond Hino said the fiscal year 2005-2006 ended with a $5 million deficit.
Winning the critical access designation increased Medicare reimbursements to the rural hospital from as low as 50% to 101% of the cost of services, according to a hospital official. The hospital's billing department also was reorganized to reduce its deficit.
Hospitals that are eligible for critical access status must be located in a rural area at least 35 miles from another hospital and have no more than 25 patient beds (Anderson, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 1/5).
Attorney General Jerry Brown (D) on Jan. 25 will convene a hearing on the proposed sale of not-for-profit Paradise Valley Hospital to for-profit Prime Healthcare, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Brown has until Monday to release a consultant's report addressing possible implications of converting the hospital to a for-profit facility. If Brown does not grant an extension on the decision-making process, he must rule on the matter by Feb. 19 (Clark, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1/11).
The Modesto City Council on Tuesday approved a proposal by Sutter Gould Medical Foundation to expand its facility, the Modesto Bee reports
Sutter Gould revised its initial proposal to reduce the building plan by 7,000 square feet, as well as the size of the parking facility. The proposed facility is about one-third larger than the current office, but Sutter Gould will not significantly increase staff, according to officials (Ashton, Modesto Bee, 1/10).
Woodland Memorial Hospital is planning equipment and facility upgrades as part of its parent Woodland Healthcare's $40 million renovation and expansion plan, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
The plan is expected to include:
- A new outpatient imaging center;
- A remodeling of the outpatient surgery center;
- An electronic medical record system; and
- New imaging equipment and technology for the cardiac catheterization lab (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 1/5).