by Ali Tabatabai
Good-bye to St. Lukes Hospital? The California Nurses Association holds a demonstration on the steps of SF City Hall on Thursday prior to a committee hearing of the Board of Supervisors on California Pacific Medical Center’s plan to close St. Luke’s Hospital. Asamblyman Mark Leno, speaks against the closing. (photo by Jennifer Salgado)
Inpatient emergency care services at St. Luke’s Hospital in San Francisco’s Mission District were resuscitated for another 90 days, after hospital executives admitted on Thursday to neglecting a state law requiring official notice be sent to the city’s health commission before a closure.
At a hearing before the Board of Supervisors committee and a capacity crowd of hospital staff and community members, California Pacific Medical 7Center officials announced they will comply with the law known as Proposition Q and said their plans for the hospital was the first step in a process to redevelop city’s healthcare landscape.
“Whatever the future is for St. Luke’s and CPMC’s presence in the south of market, it’s not going to be a financially based decision from a standpoint of looking to make a profit,” said Christopher Willrich, California Pacific’s vice president of strategy and business development.
According to Willrich, St. Luke’s is currently lospopulaing $30 to $35 million each year while 60 percent of its acute hospital beds lay empty on any given day. He added that 85 percent of the hospital’s emergency room visits are for “low-level” emergencies such as asthma attacks and diabetes complications.
CPMC, an affiliate of Sutter Health, had originally declared its plans to cut its pediatric and neonatal intensive care unit starting Nov. 16.–eventually eliminating all long-term emergency stays and turning St. Luke’s into an outpatient ambulatory hub by 2009. To balance the loss of St. Luke’s, CPMC also intends to build a $1.7 billion new hospital on Cathedral Hill at Van Ness Avenue and Geary Boulevard.
However, Public health director, Dr. Mitch Katz, said the move would leave San Francisco General as the only acute care hospital in the south-east side of the city.
“I don’t believe a simple closure of St. Luke’s, and closure of the [emergency department] could enhance our health status, have” Katz said. “We only now have nine acute care hospitals in San Francisco and we very badly need all of our emergency departments.”
During the hearing, Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier grilled Cal Pacifi c’s executives on rumors of sabotaging St. Luke’s numbers in order to justify the downgrading. She asked Willrich if CPMC was referring patients with private insurance to its other campuses and holding on to billing statements for its Medicare/ MediCal claims.
Willrich, however, categorically denied all accusations of engaging in the process known as, “medical redlining.”
“There’s no understanding that this is the way things are done,” Willrich said, “This doesn’t not sound like CPMC.”
Still, Alioto-Pier expressed her concerned on the impact the closure would have on the neighborhood, adding “You get rid of St. Luke’s and women who want to give birth to their babies in their communities all of a sudden have to go into Pacifi c Heights.”
Doctor’s from St. Luke’s, who treat high number of patients on government programs, also had their questions about the potential loss of the hospital. Michael Treece, chairman of the department of pediatrics at St. Luke’s has cared for children in the Mission District for over ten years. He noted that kids get sick at higher rates than adults and more serious conditions could develop into lifethreatening complications if not dealt with properly.
“Do we really want to ask families to bring their sick children all the way across town on a bus,” Treece asked. “Is that who we are?”
Thirty-three-year-old, Jan Zimmerman, who recently delivered her baby at St. Luke’s, said it should remain open as an example to the rest of the nation. She said that San Francisco should be home to hospitals that provide “the same opportunities and resources so that we have the best kind of healthcare available for everybody.”
The strong community reaction seemed to take stock with CPMC’s chief executive offi cer, Dr. Martin Brotman, who stayed for entire hearing lasted close to three hours. While he said he found the medical redlining accusations to be insulting, he thought the dialogue was constructive. “Everybody said we’re running a terrifi c hospital in there and they don’t want to lose it, that resonates,” Brotman said, “I heard what they’re saying and I’m going to reassess what the options are.”
Brotman said CPMC will continue to work with Dr. Katz and the city to determine the future of St. Luke’s and San Francisco’s medical system.
