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City tries to stop hospital from flatlining
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City officials have put forth a proposal to keep St. Luke’s from closing or downgrading.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - City officials would be instructed to take strong action to stop St. Luke’s Hospital from closing or downgrading its services in the Mission district, under a proposal to be considered today.
St. Luke’s owner, California Pacific Medical Center, a part of Sutter Health, announced in October that, due to financial reasons, it would stop providing emergency care at St. Luke’s. The hospital, which has operated since 1912, treats a high proportion of low-income patients. Of its emergency care patients, 40 percent are Hispanic and 18 percent are black, according to a city report.
On Wednesday, nearly 100 St. Luke’s doctors, nurses and other employees spilled out of the hospital’s brick building and into a parking lot to cheer an announcement by Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier that a “blue ribbon panel” of CPMC executives, and union and government representatives, would plan the future of the hospital.
CPMC president Dr. Martin Brotman wore a large “Save St. Luke’s” badge as he addressed the crowd.
“Something that is desperately needed in this city,” Brotman told the crowd, “is an open, honest planning process that has only one focus — to make sure that we provide the best possible health care.”
After the public announcement, Brotman told The Examiner the company could not commit to keeping the hospital or its acute-care facilities open after 2009.
“Nothing is off the table,” he said. “If you’re going to have an honest process, you have to have all possibilities on the table — and all possibilities are on the table.”
Today a Board of Supervisors committee will consider a resolution authored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi that, if passed by the full board, would instruct city departments to identify any pending applications that would help CPMC close or downgrade the hospital. The resolution would instruct the city attorney to then investigate the company’s requests and take legal action to try and prevent the closures.
Comments from Examiner Readers
2:18 PM MST on Sun., Jan. 27, 2008 re: "City tries to stop hospital from flatlining"
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8:20 PM MST on Thu., Jan. 24, 2008
re: "City tries to stop hospital from flatlining"
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Examiner Reader said:
Thank you for the balanced portrayal of a PR move by CPMC to forestall the Mirkarimi resolution. Please followup with comments at the Board of Supervisors hearing the next day about the need for caution in selecting the "blue ribbon panel" which allows CPMC/Sutter to placate without any commitments which are binding to maintain acute care services in this underserved community. Corporate and government responsibility to the public must supercede the profit motive and the public benefit must justify the tax exempt status.
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Gretchen said:
The doctor I go to has offices at St Luke's so I have a real interest in seeing the hospital remain open. However, Emergency Rooms are expensive to operate and if closing down the emergency room would save the hospital I'm all for it. S.F. General Hospital is very close by and has superb emergency and trauma facilities and could probably handle the St Luke's workload. What I don't want to see is the Board of Supervisors once again sticking their noses in and making all sorts of demands that will force the hospital to continue to provide existing services until the whole hospital goes broke. Be realistic - if some services such as emergency care need to be eliminated to save the hospital, so be it. It's none of the board of supervisors business - stay out of it - you're politicians and not businessmen as you've proved again and again.
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