California Hospital Roundup for the Week of August 7, 2009
California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco
On Aug. 3, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 3-0 that the Service Employees International Union, United Healthcare Workers-West acted illegally in 2006 when it encouraged California Pacific Medical Center maintenance workers to refuse to work overtime to protest a management plan that sent jobs to another facility, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The one-week protest by maintenance workers belonging to the union violated a federal law requiring hospital employees to give 10 days' notice before a strike or "concerted refusal to work," the court said (Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/4).
French Hospital Medical Center, San Luis Obispo
French Hospital Medical Center has returned to profitability after a number of years with significant budget deficits and a number of changes in ownership, HealthLeaders Media reports.
The hospital has overhauled a number of programs and undertaken a public outreach effort aimed at ensuring that the hospital provided the services the community expected from it (Clark, HealthLeaders Media, 8/5).
Kaiser Permanente, Sacramento
On Aug. 1, Kaiser Permanente opened the Sacramento region's fourth trauma center, the Sacramento Bee reports.
The expansion of Kaiser's south Sacramento location eventually will include a helipad and an outpatient surgery center. Hospital capacity will increase to about 300 beds (Lang, Sacramento Bee, 7/31).
About 700 patients likely will be admitted to the trauma center in its first year (Milne, "KXJZ News," Capital Public Radio, 8/3).
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