Sutter Health Announces Closure of Santa Rosa Hospital
Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa on Monday announced that it will close its Community Hospital in 2008 and that it no longer plans to build a new facility nearby, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Hospital CEO Mike Cohill said that 1,200 employees will lose their jobs because of the closure. Employees may transfer to other Sutter hospitals or apply to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, which is absorbing some of Community Hospital's services (Los Angeles Times, 1/9).
Community Hospital needs expensive renovation to meet the state's seismic safety standards, according to the Sacramento Business Journal (Weintraub, Sacramento Business Journal, 1/9).
Sutter also plans to sell an acute care center to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, which St. Joseph Health System owns. A final agreement would require approval from the boards of both health systems, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, the California Attorney General's office and other regulators.
The hospital's contract with Sonoma County does not expire until 2016. The county leases Community Hospital to Sutter in exchange for funding of several hospital programs, including the County Medical Services Program, which subsidizes care for low-income patients who are ineligible for Medi-Cal (Rose, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 1/9).
Sonoma County Administrator Bob Deis said that the county would ensure that hospital-based abortions and other women's reproductive health services will be continued at Memorial Hospital after Community Hospital closes.
Memorial officials said that Sutter remains obligated to provide those services under its contract with Sonoma County (Hillenmeyer, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 1/9).