San Francisco’s Health Commission is set to rule on CPMC hospital’s dialysis outsourcing plan at its meeting on Tuesday, September 7.
As I previously reported, CPMC’s dialysis patients remain very concerned about outsourcing of life itself.
The Health Commission’s September 7 meeting is being held off site, at the Lady Shaw Senior Center at 1483 Mason Street, at 4:00 p.m. — not at its usual 101 Grove Street location.
The Commissioner’s will be voting on whether to issue a Prop Q finding that outsourcing CPMC’s dialysis services to a for-profit facility will have a detrimental effect on the provision of healthcare services in the City.
At the Health Commission’s August 17 meeting, Grant Davies, Executive Vice President of CPMC presented information regarding CPMC’s plans to outsource its dialysis services to DaVita. He indicated that capital improvement costs to upgrade CPMC’s dialysis facilities were cost prohibitive, and that DaVita would fund the upgrades.
Mr. Davies also indicated that reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) may be adversely affected by an average two percent decline in reimbursement when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reduce “bundled reimbursement” starting in 2011.
Both claims by Mr. Davies may be ridiculous.
As various media have reported, Sutter Health’s — CPMC’s parent company — profits more than tripled in 2009.
The Sacramento Business Times reported Sutter Health’s “systemwide profit margin increased to almost 8 percent” in 2009, up from just 2.3 percent in 2008. Sutter’s revenue rose to $8.8 billion in 2009 from $8.3 billion in 2008, the Sacramento Business Times reported.
Half a billion dollars in increased revenue?
Sutter’s president and CEO Pat Fry claims its operating income did very well in 2009 due to “extremely good expense management.”
At whose expense, I have to wonder. Patients being “expense managed”?
Thoughtfully, Health Commissioners peppered Mr. Davies with questions during their August 17 Commission meeting.
Commissioner Melara asked whether the new Federal regulations may be a factor in CPMC’s motivation to sell its dialysis services and apply to DaVita.
Commissioner Chow fretted that a long-term plan for the quantity of dialysis chairs must available and be considered by the Health Commission. He worries the same quality of care currently provided by CPMC be maintained by DaVita.
Chow also wonders what measures will be used to determine quality standards, and asked why DaVita was chosen over other providers.
Continued in Part 2 …
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