California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of June 28, 2013
California Health Care Facility, Stockton
On Tuesday, California prison officials dedicated the $839 million California Health Care Facility, which will provide medical and mental health care to 1,700 state inmates, Capital Public Radio's "KXJZ News" reports.
The facility will accept its first patients by mid-July, and it eventually will provide about 2,700 permanent jobs for nurses, physicians and correctional staff (Ibarra, "KXJZ News," Capital Public Radio, 6/25).
The facility opens after several court rulings requiring that the prison system relieve prisoner overcrowding and shift inmates susceptible to Valley Fever out of two prisons where the fungal infection is present (Small, "KPCC," Southern California Public Radio, 6/25).
California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco
On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved California Pacific Medical Center's plan to build a new hospital on Cathedral Hill and rebuild St. Luke's Hospital in the Mission District, the San Francisco Examiner reports (Sabatini, San Francisco Examiner, 6/26).
To secure approval for the plan, CPMC agreed to scale back its Cathedral Hill proposal from 555 beds and 1,200 parking spaces to 274 beds and less than 1,000 parking spaces. It also agreed to treat up to 30,000 charity patients annually and hire area residents to staff at least 40% of entry-level positions for the first 10 years.
The board must vote again on the proposal before it can be signed by Mayor Ed Lee (Lagos, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/25).
Palomar Medical Center, West Escondido
Palomar Health is in violation of an agreement governing the $580 million in revenue bonds it has issued to complete construction of the new Palomar Medical Center in West Escondido, according to the organization's chief financial officer, U-T San Diego reports.
The health system agreed to keep at least 80 days of cash on hand when it issued bonds to finish the $956 million facility.
However, Robert Hemker -- Palomar's CFO -- said that since March, cash reserves have been below that threshold. He added that Palomar has kept bond investors informed of the situation.
Former San Diego city attorney Mike Aguirre said that violating the agreement gives investors grounds to call the bonds due, which would require that Palomar pay back hundreds of millions of dollars at once (Sisson, U-T San Diego, 6/22).
Stanislaus Surgical Hospital, Modesto
Sutter Health has begun exclusive discussions for a partnership with Stanislaus Surgical Hospital in Modesto, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
The two parties are not expected to reach an official agreement for several months.
According to the Business Journal, if a deal is reached, it will strengthen Sutter's position in the Central Valley region as it prepares to launch an HMO in 2014 (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 6/26).
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