California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of April 1, 2011
Coast Plaza Hospital, Norwalk
Manhattan Beach-based Avanti Hospitals has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire its fourth hospital in Los Angeles County, Healthcare Finance News reports.
The health care company is expected to complete the purchase of Coast Plaza Hospital in Norwalk by May. According to Avanti's president, care at the hospital will not be interrupted by the purchase (Pizzi, Healthcare Finance News, 3/25).
Doctors Medical Center, San Pablo
On Tuesday, Doctors Medical Center board members agreed to change their governance structure to clear the way for Contra Costa County to approve a $10 million loan for the hospital, the Contra Costa Times reports.
County officials had called for a change in the governing structure of the hospital board before they would approve the loan. The board currently consists of five elected members. Under the new structure, the governing body would consist of three current board members, two county representatives and two medical staff representatives. County supervisors are scheduled to consider approving the loan during their April 5 meeting (Kleffman, Contra Costa Times, 3/29).
El Camino Hospital, Mountain View
El Camino Hospital recently joined about 200 other hospitals and health systems as an owner of the Premier health care alliance network, Healthcare IT News reports.
As an owning member, El Camino Hospital will gain access to Premier's nationwide health care purchasing network and other services. El Camino also plans to leverage Premier's supply chain technology to analyze supply spending data (Miliard, Healthcare IT News, 3/25).
Enloe Medical Center, Chico
Enloe Medical Center recently announced that it is affiliating with UC-San Francisco Medical Center to improve access to cancer specialists, the Chico Enterprise-Record reports.
Michael Baird, executive director of the Enloe Cancer Center, said the center and UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center have been in discussions about the affiliation for about two years. Under the arrangement, Enloe physicians will be able to access UCSF faculty members, call for consultations and monitor available clinical trials, Baird said. He added that Enloe still can refer cancer patients to other hospitals besides UCSF Medical Center (Mitchell, Chico Enterprise-Record, 3/26).
March LifeCare, Riverside County
On Tuesday, demolition crews started tearing down the five-story military hospital at March Air Reserve Base in preparation for the construction of a new medical campus, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
Organizers of the March LifeCare project also announced the formation of a veterans' advisory board. The forthcoming March LifeCare medical campus will span 144 acres. Riverside Medical Clinic has signed a contract to build a 120,000 square-foot clinic on the property (Pierceall, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 3/29).
Rady Children's Hospital and Sanford Children's Clinic, Oceanside
Rady Children's Hospital and Sanford Children's Clinic recently opened a pediatric care facility in Oceanside, the San Diego Business Journal reports.
The 28,500 square-foot facility will offer pediatric specialty services, primary care and urgent care. The Rose Foundation donated $2.5 million to Sanford Health to support the development of the pediatric clinic, which is scheduled to open for patient visits on April 4 (Hirsh, San Diego Business Journal, 3/25).
Valley Presbyterian Hospital, Van Nuys
Valley Presbyterian Hospital has won a $20,000 grant to develop a telehealth initiative to support its limb preservation program, Payers & Providers reports.
The grant will help the 333-bed hospital connect with two Northern San Fernando Valley-based skilled nursing facilities operated by Country Villa. The telehealth program will allow podiatrists and vascular surgeons at Valley Presbyterian to study pressure wounds of Country Villa patients. Hospital officials said the telehealth connection likely would involve the use of Apple's iPad or iPod Touch (Payers & Providers, 3/31).
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