California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of October 26, 2012
El Camino Hospital, Mountain View
El Camino Hospital is launching a patient-centered medical home that aims to improve seniors' health and quality of life, Payers & Providers reports.
The new Senior Health Center will focus on providing primary care services.
The center's staff will include four physicians, as well as specially trained nurses, a nutritionist and a pharmacist (Payers & Providers, 10/25).
Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center
Last week, Solano County Emergency Services designated Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center as a STEMI Receiving Center, the Vallejo Times-Herald reports.
STEMI heart attacks are caused by a prolonged period of blocked blood supply and require immediate treatment. Often, they require emergency surgery to unblock a patient's arteries.
Kaiser spokesperson Deniene Erickson said that the hospital has been providing specialized treatment for STEMI heart attacks since November 2011.
Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center and NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield now are the only STEMI centers in Solano County (Vallejo Times-Herald, 10/21).
Parkview Community Hospital, Riverside
The Joint Commission has awarded Parkview Community Hospital a Gold Seal of Approval-Center of Distinction for its palliative care program.
To qualify for the distinction, the facility underwent an on-site inspection by Joint Commission officials in August.
The hospital is one of only 20 in the U.S. that have received the award (Parkview Community Hospital release, 10/24).
San Leandro Hospital
Last week, the Eden Township Healthcare District pledged $250,000 in fiscal year 2013 and $500,000 in fiscal year 2014 to help cover expenses at San Leandro Hospital, the Contra Costa Times reports.
The district owned the hospital until earlier this year when it lost a lawsuit against Sutter Health, which operates the facility and is negotiating an agreement to purchase it. Sutter Health officials said the facility is losing money.
San Leandro government officials have sought to keep the hospital open. They said that its closure would cause residents to have to travel out of town during medical emergencies (Parr, Contra Costa Times, 10/19).
UC-San Francisco Medical Center, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital
Last week, officials at UC-San Francisco Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital said they will have to cut the equivalent of 300 full-time jobs to reduce costs and prepare for implementation of the federal health reform law, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
In a memo to employees, UCSF Medical Center CEO Mark Laret and COO Ken Jones wrote, "As national health care leaders, (the medical centers) must strategically invest our dollars to improve care, grow our market share, plan for reduced payment increases and lower our total costs overall."
They also discussed other expenses that the two facilities have incurred, such as "increased pension costs, the rising cost of clinical technology and the expense of building" a $1.5 billion new campus at Mission Bay.
According to Laret and Jones, the majority of the job reductions "will be achieved through turnover and redeployment of staff," but "some layoffs" still might be needed (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 10/19).
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