California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of August 6, 2010
Eden Township Healthcare District
On July 28, Eden Township Healthcare District CEO Dev Mahadevan told the district's board that it would cost about $45,000 annually to provide health benefits to all five board members but that expenditures could vary based on specific factors, the Oakland Tribune reports.
The district's board asked Mahadevan to investigate the cost of providing health benefits, which has been proposed as a way to attract quality candidates for board positions.
Also at the July 28 meeting, Board President Carole Rogers said that Eden Township and Sutter Health have reached an agreement to maintain San Leandro Hospital as an acute care general hospital with an emergency department. The two organizations also agreed that a rebuilding project for Eden Hospital in Castro Valley will proceed as scheduled during litigation between the health care district and Sutter Health (Sweeney, Oakland Tribune, 7/30).
Kaiser Permanente, Redwood City
Last week, Redwood City's city council granted final approval to Kaiser Permanente's plans for a new 149-bed hospital in San Mateo County, with construction slated to begin next year, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
Kaiser also plans to remodel its existing 204,000 square-foot Redwood City hospital and use part of it to accommodate outpatient services and medical support.
Kaiser's original plans, which Redwood City approved in 2003, called for tearing down the old hospital and building a new 440,000 square-foot facility. Kaiser officials did not provide details about why the plans changed (Bishop, San Jose Mercury News, 7/28).
Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, Burlingame
When the new Mills-Peninsula Medical Center replaces the existing Peninsula Medical Center in December, it plans to convert paper medical records to electronic health records, the San Mateo County Times reports.
The new facility will include 30% more computers and work spaces designed to accommodate the technology. Of the 30 Peninsula Medical Center physicians who began using EHRs last year, about 73% said they preferred the electronic system, according to a Mills-Peninsula official (Woudenberg, San Mateo County Times, 8/2).
Valley Health System, Riverside County
An attorney for Valley Health System recently announced that Aug. 23 is the latest target closing date for the sale of the public hospital district's assets to Physicians for Healthy Hospitals, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
The attorney added that the target closing date is not a certainty, partially because officials must complete a roughly 500-item checklist before the sale is completed (Wesson, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 8/5).
Last week, VHS' board of directors approved an amendment that extended the potential closing date for the sale. The amendment notes that VHS and the physicians' group require additional time to comply with regulatory requirements to transfer or obtain licenses and permits related to the sale (Wesson, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 7/30).
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