California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of August 16, 2013
Kaweah Delta Medical Center, Visalia
On Sept. 24, the Kaweah Delta Medical Center will launch its six-week "Healthy Habits: Take Charge" program at its Lifestyle Center, The Business Journal reports.
The program aims to educate families about how to curb obesity and improve health and will include lessons on nutrition, exercise and self-esteem.
Participants also will receive 12 months of ongoing support after the program concludes (The Business Journal, 8/13).
Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego
Rady Children's Hospital's new Cardiovascular Intensive Care unit will admit its first patient on Sunday, the U-T San Diego reports.
Rady Children's spokesperson Benjamin Metcalf said the unit contains a full range of cardiac intensive care equipment and will cost about $2.5 million annually to operate (Sisson, U-T San Diego, 8/14).
Tri-City Medical Center, Oceanside
On July 25, a California arbitrator ruled that Tri-City Medical Center can legally hire a physician who was banned from working at the hospital because of a non-compete contract, Modern Physician reports.
Hamid Movahhedian had worked at Tri-City Medical Center as a contractor through Pediatrix until 2009, when he decided to become an employee of the hospital. Pediatrix sued Movahhedian for violation of contract, which specified that he could not work at any hospital with 20 miles of a former work site for two years.
However, the arbitrator ruled that the hospital can hire Movahhedian because the "non-compete" restriction is contrary to public policy.
Arbitrator Burton Katz said in his decision that any "unreasonable constraints placed upon [a salaried employee] that disallows the freedom to accept other employment ... is prohibited" (Carlson, Modern Physician, 8/14).
Tulare Regional Medical Center
Tulare Regional Medical Center has announced that it has approved an emergency department physician group contract with Anthem Blue Cross, The Business Journal reports.
The agreement will allow Medflow -- which operates Tulare's ED -- to hire almost 100 additional staff members to support clinical services and handle an expected increase in patient volume (The Business Journal, 8/5).
UC-San Francisco Medical Center; Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland
On Aug. 8, UC-San Francisco Medical Center and Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland signed an affiliation agreement set to close early next year that would link the hospitals but allow them to remain separate entities, San Francisco Business Times' "Bay Area BizTalk" reports.
Under the agreement, the hospitals would jointly operate BayChildren's Physicians, Children's Oakland's existing physician foundation. In addition, four of Children's Oakland's top executives would become UC employees, although they would continue to work full-time at the children's hospital.
However, most employees at the facilities would remain at their current hospitals and each facility would maintain its own licenses and boards, according to the agreement (Rauber, "Bay Area BizTalk," San Francisco Business Times, 8/8).
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