California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of September 17, 2010
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Colton
CMS officials recently sent a letter informing Arrowhead Regional Medical Center administrators that the facility is in compliance with CMS standards and no longer is at risk of losing Medicare reimbursements, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
In April, CMS notified ARMC officials that the hospital might lose its Medicare reimbursements because it failed to meet certain requirements in surgical services, patient rights and other areas. In the new letter, CMS notes that inspectors identified problems during a July 9 inspection of ARMC, but that the agency provided hospital officials with an opportunity to outline their plans to take corrective action (Hines, Riverside Press Enterprise, 9/10).
Kaiser Permanente Fontana Hospital
The replacement facility for Kaiser Permanente Fontana Hospital is expected to be completed by the fall of 2013, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports. The 482,000 square-foot, seven-story building will have 314 licensed beds, a 51-bed emergency department and several specialty units (Marquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, 9/15).
NorthBay Healthcare, Fairfield
NorthBay Healthcare soon might open the first level 3 trauma center in Solano County if state and local government officials approve the plan, the Vacaville Reporter reports.
The trauma center first would open at NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield. NorthBay Healthcare then would relocate the center by constructing a $112 million facility at VacaValley Hospital, pending approval by Vacaville officials. The planned 60,000 square-foot Vacaville center would have 24 beds and four large operating rooms. NorthBay officials still are working to secure funding for the project (Bammer, Vacaville Reporter, 9/9).
Ontario Vineyard Medical Center
Construction of Kaiser Permanente's Ontario Vineyard Medical Center is 90% complete, according to a Kaiser official, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports. The 224-bed, $550 million medical center is slated to open in September 2011. The five-story building will have two patient towers with diagnostic and treatment areas and an attached, three-story support building that will house specialty services (Marquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, 9/15).
Palomar Pomerado Health, San Diego County
Administrators at Palomar Pomerado Health have asked California's labor board to force two labor unions to negotiate with the health system about planned increases in employees' health insurance premiums, the North County Times reports.
The public health care district filed an unfair labor complaint against the California Nurses Association and the Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union, alleging that the unions violated their contractual agreement to meet with hospital administrators to discuss changes to employees' health plan premiums. An attorney representing both labor groups said the dispute should be resolved through neutral arbitration (Sisson, North County Times, 9/8).
UC-San Francisco Hospital, Mission Bay
On Thursday, UC Regents unanimously voted to approve construction of a new $1.52 billion hospital at UC-San Francisco's Mission Bay campus, the San Francisco Business Times reports. The 289-bed, 878,000 square-foot hospital will specialize in women's, children's and cancer care.
Officials plan to break ground on the project in December and open the facility by 2014. The medical center will be the first new hospital in San Francisco in decades, officials said (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 9/16).
Valley Health System, Riverside County
A deal involving the sale of two Valley Health System hospitals to Physicians for Healthy Hospitals has been delayed and now is expected to close the first week in October, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. On Monday, VHS directors approved an extension in the asset sale agreement to Oct. 15.
The sale initially was slated to close Tuesday, but a few details remain unresolved, officials said. If the two VHS hospitals remain publicly owned until the federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, they will be entitled to receive $3.8 million in additional federal funding for indigent care, according to a VHS attorney (Wesson, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 9/14).
Victor Valley Community Hospital, Victorville
Victor Valley Community Hospital officials recently announced that the facility has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the San Bernardino County Sun reports (Steinberg, San Bernardino County Sun, 9/14). According to the bankruptcy filing, the 101-bed facility was $20 million in debt. Hospital officials said California's budget stalemate contributed to Victor Valley's financial troubles because the state owes the hospital $2.5 million in reimbursements for Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program.
Prime Healthcare Services Foundation has agreed to acquire the facility (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 9/16). A Victor Valley spokesperson said the hospital will continue serving patients during its reorganization (San Bernardino County Sun, 9/14).
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