California Hospital News Roundup for Jan. 25, 2008
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering a proposal aimed at maintaining services at St. Luke's Hospital, the San Francisco Examiner reports.
The resolution would require city departments to identify any pending applications that could lead to California Pacific Medical Center, the owner of St. Luke's, eliminating services or closing the hospital. The city attorney then would be required to take legal action to try and prevent CPMC from closing the hospital.
On Wednesday, San Francisco Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier announced that a panel of CPMC executives and government and union representatives would plan the future of the hospital (Upton, San Francisco Examiner, 1/24).
The Sutter Davis Health Foundation has raised more than $150,000 to match funds from the Sutter Health Department of Philanthropy to purchase new equipment for the Sutter Davis emergency department, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Loren Johnson, director of the hospital ED, said the equipment would help expedite diagnosis and treatment of patients with life-threatening injuries and illnesses including:
- Heart attacks;
- Strokes; and
- Trauma (McGhee, Sacramento Bee, 1/20).
On Monday, Sutter Health announced plans to roll out an electronic health record system at its Santa Rosa facility, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports.
Implementation is slated to begin in March, and the system is expected to be fully functional by June.
Steve Wolf, a doctor at the hospital who worked on the project, said it is intended to reduce errors and improve patient care (Norton, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 1/22).