California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco
On Monday, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee (D) said the city should renegotiate part of a construction agreement with California Pacific Medical Center after finding that the deal does not guarantee long-term operation of a new St. Luke's Hospital in the Mission District, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The $2.5 billion construction project involves building a new 555-bed hospital on Cathedral Hill.
Lee originally said that St. Luke's could operate for at least the next 20 years under the agreement.
However, the deal includes an escape clause that allows the hospital system to close St. Luke's if its system-wide operating margin falls below 1% for two consecutive years.
Although original projections showed margins well above that level, recent cost and revenue predictions show that CPMC could come "close" to the threshold, according to Ken Rich, the main negotiator for the city (Coté, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/25).
Riverside Community Hospital
Riverside Community Hospital has been designated as a Baby-Friendly hospital after meeting standards endorsed by the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organization, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
The designation was created for hospitals that follow certain practices that promote breastfeeding, such as teaching women how to maintain lactation and training expectant mothers to begin breastfeeding their infants within one hour of giving birth (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 6/20).
St. Bernardine Medical Center, San Bernardino
The St. Bernardine Medical Center Foundation has received a $50,000 donation from Stater Bros. Charities and Inland Women Fighting Cancer to support St. Bernardine Medical Center's Center for Imaging, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
The funding will support women's health and wellness services at the imaging center (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 6/24).
St. Joseph Health System
On Monday, Darrin Montalvo -- executive vice president for St. Joseph Health System's Southern California region -- said that the health system and its hospitals in Orange County are consolidating their registration, billing, collections and medical records functions and plan to cut 76 jobs over the next several months, the Orange County Register's "Handling Hard Times" reports.
Montalvo said the strategy is meant to improve quality and increase efficiency while meeting the health care needs of the community.
The layoffs will affect employees at:
- Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo;
- St. Joseph Health Revenue Cycle Services in Orange; and
- St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton (Milbourn, "Handling Hard Times," Orange County Register, 6/26).