California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of November 7, 2008

Catholic Healthcare West

Last Friday, United Healthcare Workers West said workers at 33 Catholic Healthcare West hospitals have ratified a four-year contract agreement to boost wages, the San Francisco Business Times reports. CHW and the union reached the agreement about two weeks ago.

Ninety-seven percent of the local's 14,000 members in those hospitals voted to ratify the new contract, which increases wages an average of 26% over a four-year period, UHW spokesperson Sadie Crabtree said (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 10/31).

CHW, Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health

Catholic Healthcare West, Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health have signed on to be major donors to MedShare International, a Georgia-based not-for-profit that sends medical materials to facilities in developing countries, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The hospitals can donate sterile items that were part of surgical kits, as well as other medical equipment, furniture and supplies. MedShare uses a Web inventory system to allow health care providers worldwide to order the supplies they need (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/5).

Corona Regional Medical Center

Corona Regional Medical opened its diagnostic angiography lab last week and recently added two hyperbaric chambers to its one-year-old wound care center, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.

Corona Regional CEO Ken Rivers said the new features aim to meet the health care needs of the surrounding community. The new hyperbaric chambers in part will help with wounds that do not heal, particularly those found in people with diabetes (Robinson, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 10/30).

Marin Healthcare District, Corte Madera

The board of Marin Healthcare District has voted to approve terms of a $20 million bridge loan from Marin County, the San Francisco Business Times reports. The funds will be used to finance the district's transition costs as it resumes control of Marin General Hospital from Sutter Health.

The district owns Marin General but has leased its operations to Sutter since 1985. Sutter is expected to exit its long-term lease on the facility by Jan. 1, 2010 (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 11/4).

San Francisco General Hospital

On Tuesday, San Francisco voters approved an $887 million bond for seismic upgrades to San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The measure got 84% of the vote (Lagos, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/5).

St. Joseph Hospital, Eureka

St. Joseph Hospital is adding a team of physicians, nurses, social workers, spiritual health personnel and volunteers to improve its palliative care services, the Eureka Reporter reports (Miller, Eureka Reporter, 11/3).

Sutter Health, Elk Grove

Sutter Health is hoping to open an ambulatory surgery center in Elk Grove in 2010, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.

The city's planning commission held a hearing Oct. 24 on the matter and will vote on Sutter's plans Dec. 4. The city council could consider Sutter's plan in January 2009.

Sutter's initial plans for its Elk Grove campus call for a second ambulatory surgery center, a 68-bed hospital and later expansion, and additional medical office buildings by 2030 (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 10/31).