Caregivers Demand Public Process to Evaluate Proposed Massive Reorganization of Sonoma County Health Care Services
SANTA ROSA, Calif., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ — In a memo released this morning, Sutter Health officially announced plans to sell the Warrack campus of Sutter Medical Center Santa Rosa to the St. Joseph Health System of Orange County, owners of Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, and to close the Chanate campus by early 2008. This deal, which will dramatically change the health care delivery system in Sonoma County, was reached without any real community input — despite potentially huge impacts on Sonoma County patients and health care consumers.
“Sutter Medical Center Santa Rosa is a critical part of the safety net in Sonoma County,” said John Borsos, Administrative Vice President of SEIU – United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW). “Elected officials must work with workers and community members to create an inclusive and transparent process to oversee this proposed massive reorganization of health care services in the county. We must ensure that residents continue to have access to the full scope of health care services currently available and that the job security of dedicated caregivers of Sutter Medical Center Santa Rosa is protected.”
Sutter Health leased the Chanate facility from the County in 1996, and currently has a contract with the County to provide care for the uninsured, as well as medical services for jail inmates and the family practice residency program. According to the memo released by Sutter, Sutter and Memorial will negotiate jointly with the County regarding Sutter’s existing obligations, but detailed plans have not been released to the public and there has been no mention of a public review process to ensure that current needs will continue to be met.
Currently, St. Joseph Health System controls 53 percent of the non-Kaiser acute-care beds in Sonoma County. Under the proposed reorganization of services, its market share could grow to over 75 percent, and St. Joseph would become the only major non-Kaiser acute-care hospital in the area.
“There is strong evidence that hospital consolidation results in higher prices while rarely improving the quality of patient care. We strongly oppose closed-door transactions that will result in major service reorganizations, especially where a community will be left with only two major providers. These transactions need to be carefully monitored to ensure that residents have access to quality care and that market dynamics are not used to drive up prices for consumers,” said Sally Covington, Executive Director of the California Health Care Coalition, a membership organization of employers, unions and trust funds representing over 2 million Californians.
Sutter Health, based in Sacramento, operates 27 hospitals across Northern California and reported nearly half a billion dollars in profit in 2005. Despite its massive profitability, Sutter Health has a long track record of closing needed but less profitable services, often with limited community input. Orange County based St. Joseph Health System is also enormously profitable, reporting over $215 million in profit last year. St. Joseph Health System is one of the largest health care systems in the West, compromised of fourteen hospitals, three home health agencies and multiple physician groups throughout California and Texas.
SEIU-UHW West represents over 500 workers at Sutter Medical Center Santa Rosa including licensed vocational nurses, nursing assistants, technical workers and environmental service aides. In addition, the majority of caregivers at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and Petaluma Valley Hospital are organizing a union with SEIU-UHW.
Contact: Emily Gordon c. 510-604-6716
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West
CONTACT: Emily Gordon of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West,cell, +1-510-604-6716
Web site: http://www.seiu-uhw.org/