Doctors Medical Center San Pablo/Pinole Near Deal To Sublease Pinole Campus From Tenet

Doctors Medical Center San Pablo/Pinole is close to an agreement with Texas-based Tenet Healthcare to sublet the Pinole hospital campus for 16 years, the Contra Costa Times reports. If the West Contra Costa Healthcare District board approves the agreement, the hospital could reactivate state licenses for more than 130 beds that were deactivated when inpatient care moved to San Pablo in 2000, according to Peggy Lipper, the medical center's vice president of corporate development (Lochner, Contra Costa Times, 5/4).

The health care district on Aug. 1, 2004, assumed control of operations at Doctors. In June, residents of West Contra Costa County Healthcare District voted to approve a property tax measure that will raise an estimated $6.1 million annually for the health care district. Health care district officials said that the hospital would have closed without the funding.

Doctors, which has 200 beds, serves patients in El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole, Richmond and San Pablo and operates the only full-service emergency department in West Contra Costa County (California Healthline, 11/24/04).

Under the sublease, the health care district would pay Tenet $1 million annually, the same amount Tenet pays the investment group that owns the Pinole campus.

The Pinole Fire Department and the state must approve the plan. Approval from the investor group is not necessary. The district board could review the sublease agreement this month, according to Lipper.

If the deal is approved, the medical center would first seek state approval for a 66-bed skilled nursing facility. The hospital might later establish 70 additional acute care beds. The hospital will maintain outpatient surgery, outpatient medical imaging, cardiac rehabilitation and diabetes management services while expanding a sleep center, according to Lipper. The hospital might also add physical and speech therapy.

Lipper said, "There's a big need for skilled nursing care beds in this area. Other community-based nursing facilities are basically full."

Pinole Council member Betty Boyle said she was not aware of the deal, but added, "The city of Pinole will be very interested in what kind of uses it is used for. I'm hoping they will talk to the city of Pinole about what their plans are" (Contra Costa Times, 5/4).