California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of January 11, 2008

California Pacific Medical Center has agreed to lease a seven-floor building in San Francisco and will begin moving some departments as soon as March, according to a spokesperson, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

CPMC spokesperson Kevin McCormack said he did not know how many workers or which departments would transfer to the new building, other than marketing and communications (Temple/Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/8).

The hospital purchased its current facility and office building in 2003 with the goal of eventually tearing it down to build a $1.7 billion hospital. City officials told CPMC that they will consider the new facility only if it is combined with the hospital's other construction plans in San Francisco, including new outpatient facilities and the closure of St. Luke's Hospital (San Francisco Business Times, 1/7).

On Wednesday, the Department of Public Health issued a report criticizing Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for placing pediatric patients at risk of "serious injury or death" during an incident involving an overdose, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The hospital gave three children 1,000 times the intended dosage of the blood thinner Heparin in November 2007. Two of the children were administered a second dose of the same amount several hours later.

Kathleen Billingsley, deputy director of the state's Center for Healthcare Quality, said the hospital has 10 days to respond to the report but already has taken corrective steps to ensure patients were no longer in "immediate jeopardy." She added that a decision to fine the hospital has not yet been made (Ornstein, Los Angeles Times, 1/10).

On Tuesday, Riverside County's Board of Supervisors approved a $650,000 grant from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians to create an emergency psychiatric evaluation team at Riverside County Regional Medical Center, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.

Doug Bagley, hospital CEO, plans to hire 10 social workers and nurses to work in the hospital's emergency department and screen patients for mental illnesses.

The teams will determine whether patients should be diverted to outpatient mental health programs or admitted to the county psychiatric facility (Hines, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 1/8).

Sonoma Valley Hospital directors met this week to discuss proposals for replacing the facility with a new hospital that complies with state seismic safety standards, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports.

The directors are considering building a $200 million, two-story hospital to be built near the existing facility. Parts of the old hospital would be used for administration and outpatient services.

Bob Rice, spokesperson for the hospital, said the directors also are debating the specifics of a bond election to help finance construction of the new hospital (Norberg, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 1/8).

On Wednesday, Sutter Medical Center issued layoff notices to 49 employees, including licensed vocational nurses, according to a spokesperson, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Nancy Turner, spokesperson for Sutter Health, said the employees worked at Sutter Memorial Hospital and Sutter General Hospital -- two of several facilities that comprise the medical center.

Turner said the layoffs were the result of a four-month financial review that compared the hospital's costs with similar hospitals in California. Most of the workers are likely to find other positions at Sutter, according to Turner (Chan, Sacramento Bee, 1/10).

On Wednesday, the Temecula Planning Commission recommended approval of a project to build a 320-bed hospital, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.

The Temecula Regional Hospital would be built by Southwest Healthcare System and include:

• A six-story and a five-story tower;
• A cancer center;
• A fitness-rehabilitation center; and
• A helipad.