Sutter Health’s plan for a new 70-bed hospital would, just barely, meet terms of its contract with Sonoma County for public medical services, says an analysis by county health officials that already is meeting skepticism from medical community leaders.
A draft of the report on Sutter’s revised hospital construction plans will be reviewed in closed session today by county supervisors. A final version will be unveiled at the supervisors’ public hearing on July 20 from 9 a.m. to noon.
The report predicts that, as soon as the facility opens in mid-2013, it will operate at full capacity with other hospitals likely having to pick up additional patients who require surgery or intensive care. And unless Sutter Health carries through on further plans for a 29-bed addition and a 28-bed Physicians Medical Center, the report concludes the county will lack enough beds to meet future demographic demands, and certainly not have enough during peak use such as during a flu pandemic.
The initial findings of the report prepared by health policy consultant Elinor Hall for the county Department of Health Services were outlined Monday to physicians and administrators of hospitals and clinics, all of whom are certain to weigh in with detailed responses on Monday.
“Doctors are very concerned about peak capacity .
.
. It assumes all the hospitals will be here and the buses to the new hospital keep running despite budget cuts,” said Dr. Gary Greensweig, medical director at St. Joseph Health System’s Memorial Hospital. “There are a lot of hopes for the future (in Sutter’s plans), but frankly I think it will be too late.”
County public health officer Dr. Mary Maddux-Gonzalez and health services director Rita Scardaci told several dozen medical community leaders that supervisors will convene Monday’s hearing to decide whether to accept the department’s assessment of the impact of Sutter’s proposal on ability of the other six hospitals in the county to handle patients. The analysis will be one of several factors, along with an environmental impact review, that supervisors will consider when deciding whether to approve Sutter’s new hospital.
Sutter officials are proposing a new $176 million medical campus to replace the aging facility on Chanate Road, which is under a state mandate for seismic upgrade or replacement. The new site is on Mark West Springs Road at Highway 101 and adjacent to the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts.
Construction is under “a tight timeline,” according to the report, which says Sutter must start construction before the end of 2010 or it could be required to close the Chanate Road facility until a replacement building is finished.
Dr. Richard Kirk, chairman of the Northern California Healthcare Joint Powers Authority, criticized the county’s analysis for failing to examine what will happen when thousands of patients, many of them uninsured, end up at the county’s smaller hospitals that don’t have the specialists or the nurses or the bed capacity to handle them. The authority includes Healdsburg District Hospital, Sonoma Valley Hospital, Mendocino Coast Hospital and Palm Drive Hospital, all of which are struggling with low insurance reimbursements and mounting numbers of uninsured patients.
“This is one of the biggest decisions that the county will be making. Mega bucks are involved,” Kirk told county health officials. “Many in the county are concerned about the whole picture.”
<p>Sutter Health’s plan for a new 70-bed hospital would, just barely, meet terms of its contract with Sonoma County for public medical services, says an analysis by county health officials that already is meeting skepticism from medical community leaders.</p><p>A draft of the report on Sutter’s revised hospital construction plans will be reviewed in closed session today by county supervisors. A final version will be unveiled at the supervisors’ public hearing on July 20 from 9 a.m. to noon.</p><p>The report predicts that, as soon as the facility opens in mid-2013, it will operate at full capacity with other hospitals likely having to pick up additional patients who require surgery or intensive care. And unless Sutter Health carries through on further plans for a 29-bed addition and a 28-bed Physicians Medical Center, the report concludes the county will lack enough beds to meet future demographic demands, and certainly not have enough during peak use such as during a flu pandemic.</p><p>The initial findings of the report prepared by health policy consultant Elinor Hall for the county Department of Health Services were outlined Monday to physicians and administrators of hospitals and clinics, all of whom are certain to weigh in with detailed responses on Monday.</p><p>“Doctors are very concerned about peak capacity .<th>.<th>. It assumes all the hospitals will be here and the buses to the new hospital keep running despite budget cuts,” said Dr. Gary Greensweig, medical director at St. Joseph Health System’s Memorial Hospital. “There are a lot of hopes for the future (in Sutter’s plans), but frankly I think it will be too late.”</p><p>County public health officer Dr. Mary Maddux-Gonzalez and health services director Rita Scardaci told several dozen medical community leaders that supervisors will convene Monday’s hearing to decide whether to accept the department’s assessment of the impact of Sutter’s proposal on ability of the other six hospitals in the county to handle patients. The analysis will be one of several factors, along with an environmental impact review, that supervisors will consider when deciding whether to approve Sutter’s new hospital.</p><p>Sutter officials are proposing a new $176 million medical campus to replace the aging facility on Chanate Road, which is under a state mandate for seismic upgrade or replacement. The new site is on Mark West Springs Road at Highway 101 and adjacent to the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts.</p><p>Construction is under “a tight timeline,” according to the report, which says Sutter must start construction before the end of 2010 or it could be required to close the Chanate Road facility until a replacement building is finished.</p><p>Dr. Richard Kirk, chairman of the Northern California Healthcare Joint Powers Authority, criticized the county’s analysis for failing to examine what will happen when thousands of patients, many of them uninsured, end up at the county’s smaller hospitals that don’t have the specialists or the nurses or the bed capacity to handle them. The authority includes Healdsburg District Hospital, Sonoma Valley Hospital, Mendocino Coast Hospital and Palm Drive Hospital, all of which are struggling with low insurance reimbursements and mounting numbers of uninsured patients.</p><p>“This is one of the biggest decisions that the county will be making. Mega bucks are involved,” Kirk told county health officials. “Many in the county are concerned about the whole picture.”</p>