California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of April 26, 2013
Dominican Hospital, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz County health officials are considering backup plans in the event that construction on a Dominican Hospital behavioral health unit is not finished by its scheduled opening on Jan. 1, 2014, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports.
Construction on the $13 million unit began in July 2012, but the project is only about 40% complete.
Contingency plans for the county include placing staff members hired to work in the new unit on the main hospital campus and moving patients with mental illnesses to facilities outside of the county (Hoppin, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 4/23).
Marin General Hospital, Greenbrae
Marin General Hospital has announced that it plans to submit a $350 million bond issue for the Nov. 5 ballot, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
The facility would use the funding to complete a planned $500 million seismic reconstruction and modernization of its Greenbrae campus.
Although the hospital was granted a 10-year extension to meet state seismic safety standards, hospital officials seek to complete the project more quickly to attract both patients and physicians to the facility (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 4/17).
Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Santa Cruz
Last week, construction began on Palo Alto Medical Foundation's 18,000 square-foot medical office building in Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports.
The $10 million facility will have space for 18 health care providers and will provide urgent care services.
The project is scheduled to be completed in June 2014 (Gumz, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 4/17)
UC-San Francisco Medical Center
Last week, UC-San Francisco Medical Center officials agreed to purchase a minority stake in Pacific Partners Management Service, the management services organization for the 800-physician Santa Clara County Individual Practice Association, Payers & Providers reports.
Randall Frakes, CEO of Pacific Partners, said the deal is expected to close by mid-June (Shrinkman, Payers & Providers, 4/18). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.