California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of May 2, 2008
Hospital security officers at Kaiser Permanente's hospitals in the Bay Area and Los Angeles gave 10-day notice that they will strike between May 6 and May 8, the Sacramento Bee reports.
More than 240 employees are expected to strike as part of a two-year campaign to join Service Employees International Union Local 24/7. The security officers are looking for higher wages and paid sick leave (Smith, Sacramento Bee, 4/26).
Loma Linda University Medical Center has purchased the California Heart and Surgical Hospital, scheduled for completion this year, for more than $80 million, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
Loma Linda and other hospitals initially opposed the construction of the 28-bed private surgical center because they thought it would lure away patients with the best insurance coverage for expensive surgeries.
The university also owns two pieces of land that border the surgical center that could be used to expand its operation (Brown/Martinez Rhodes, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 4/30).
On Tuesday, Stanislaus County Clerk Lee Lundrigan announced that voters narrowly rejected a ballot measure to raise $27 million to help build a new facility for Oak Valley Hospital, the Modesto Bee reports.
The measure needed two-thirds approval from voters in the special mail-in election, but it received 65.43% of the vote, a difference of about 70 votes (Hightower, Modesto Bee, 4/30).
In May or June, Contra Costa County supervisors could decide if the county's Richmond Health Center will relocate to the Doctors Medical Center campus in San Pablo, the Contra Costa Times reports.
County supervisor John Gioia and county health officer William Walker said the northeast corner of Doctors' campus is the preferred site because the two facilities could share resources, cut overall costs and provide care more efficiently.
Gioia also said moving the health center to Doctors could help stabilize the medical center's financial situation.
Doctors recently received $20 million from the county to help after it filed for bankruptcy in 2006 (Tam, Contra Costa Times, 4/29).
Construction is under way at the new $254 million, 236,000-square-foot Cardiovascular Research Institute at UC-San Francisco, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
The facility, which is expected to open in 2011, will house 48 principal investigators, including 20 new positions. Recruiting for the new hires will begin in the fall.
The building will contain an outpatient clinic that will focus on imaging, genetic testing, biomarkers, and other predictive and preventive measures (Leuty, San Francisco Business Times, 4/25).