Today, San Francisco Board of Supervisors to Review Possible Negative Impact of St. Luke's/CPMC Merger on Public Health
Posted on: Monday, 14 August 2006, 12:00 CDT
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will hold two separate hearings to discuss concerns surrounding California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) and St. Luke's Hospital, two San Francisco facilities affiliated with Sutter Health.
The first hearing will examine the potential impact on access to critical health care services of Sutter's proposal to eliminate the independence of St. Luke's. The second hearing will allow caregivers and members of the community to voice their concerns about continuing labor relations problems at CPMC.
Sutter Health, the Sacramento-based hospital system, gave notice on July 20th of its intent to eliminate St. Luke's as a separate entity and merge it into CPMC. Merger documents filed with California Attorney General Bill Lockyer raise doubts about Sutter's commitment to keep St. Luke's open as a full-service hospital. The elimination of essential inpatient services at St. Luke's would reduce access to health care for the underserved communities of San Francisco that have historically been the hospital's charitable focus.
Although Sutter sought rapid approval of the merger from the Attorney General, last week the AG ruled that the merger must undergo a lengthier public review process. Under California law, the transfer of ownership of a nonprofit hospital is subject to at least a 60-day review by the AG, who must ensure that St. Luke's governance and the use of its assets remain consistent with its charitable purposes.
Today's hearing by the Board of Supervisors will enable patients and workers who depend on St. Luke's to express their concerns about Sutter's plans for the future of the hospital.
The Board of Supervisors will also review the labor relations climate at CPMC in the wake of last year's nine week strike, which ended only after caregivers won an industry-standard contract including safe staffing protections, a training and education fund, and the right for other CPMC employees to join SEIU United Healthcare Workers West through a democratic union election without management harassment and intimidation.
Caregivers allege that CPMC is aggressively violating provisions of the settlement that allow the workers to organize.
Contact: Thea Lavin c.510-520-7732
SEIU United Healthcare Workers - West
CONTACT: Thea Lavin of SEIU United Healthcare Workers - West,+1-510-520-7732
Web site: http://www.seiu-uhw.org/
Source: PRNewswire
Related Articles
- St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital First in Houston to Offer Revolutionary Noninvasive Tumor Treatment
- Valence Health Adds St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital IPA to Client Roster
- St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital Selects SciHealth for Hospital Performance Management
- St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital Endorses MedLink
- Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital Participates in Ground-Breaking Heart Recovery Technology Study
- Capella Healthcare to Purchase Nine Hospitals From Community Health Systems, Inc.
- St. Luke's - Roosevelt Hospital Center's Division of Cardiology Receives Three Million Dollars As an Initial Donation on a Multi-Million Dollar Commitment From the Amir of the State of Kuwait to Establish the Al-Sabah Arrhythmia Institute
- Avera McKennan Hospital and University Health Center Selects ProVation(R) MD Software for Gastroenterology Procedure Documentation and Coding Compliance
- Hospitals Safe, Says Health Minister
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds