SAN FRANCISCO: City Proposes Cutbacks for S.F. General

      San Francisco's Department of Public Heath has proposed major cutbacks at San Francisco General Hospital in an effort to curtail "chronic overspending" and reduce the flow of red ink from the department's $841 million budget for the next fiscal year. The budget plan would save the city $22 million by shutting down the hospital's pharmacy; closing its Potrero Hill Health Center; eliminating 20 acute care beds; and cutting 21 psychiatric beds, moving affected patients to a nearby halfway house. The proposal is expected to draw opposition from critics who believe that it will actually drive up city costs because reduced space may force physicians to turn away some paying Medi- Cal patients in favor of uninsured patients with no place else to go. City health commissioners will meet today for the first public announcement of the spending plan (Russell, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/8).