Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, St. Joseph Health System
Last week, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian and St. Joseph Health System announced an affiliation involving seven of their Southern California hospitals, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The hospital companies said that the partnership -- which is subject to approval by the California attorney general's office -- involves a new holding company formed to better integrate care and is not a merger (Terhune, Los Angeles Times, 8/16).
Napa State Hospital
Last week, Napa State Hospital officials announced that staff members at the psychiatric facility soon will have the option of carrying new safety alarms on their belt loops rather than on lanyards around their necks, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The move is in response to an incident last week in which a patient attempted to choke a staff member using the worker's lanyard.
Kathy Gaither -- deputy director of the Department of State Hospitals -- in a statement said that the lanyard broke as intended during the attack, the "new alarm system worked as designed and staff responded consistent with the training received."
Assembly member Michael Allen (D-Santa Rosa) said that he urged Gaither to consider employees' concerns. He noted that the hospital should "move away from these neck lanyards as quickly as possible" if patients can use them to harm staff members (Romney, Los Angeles Times, 8/17).
Stanford Hospital & Clinics
On Wednesday, Stanford Hospital & Clinics announced that it has acquired CareCounsel, a San Rafael company that provides employer-sponsored health advocacy and health care assistance services, the San Francisco Business Times reports.
The hospital and company did not disclose terms of the acquisition (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 8/22).
Sutter Memorial Hospital, Sacramento
Stonebridge Properties, a subsidiary of Teichert Land, has submitted a proposal to tear down Sutter Memorial Hospital and build between 100 and 125 housing units on the 20-acre site, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Sutter hired the developer last year to design a plan for dismantling the facility, which has been open since 1937.
According to the proposal, all of Sutter Memorial's functions would be moved to midtown Sacramento as part of Sutter General Hospital's $747 million expansion (Lillis, Sacramento Bee, 8/17).