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Public hearings set for proposed Seton Medical Center sale
Two local public hearings are scheduled next month to help California Attorney General Kamala Harris decide whether a six-hospital chain including facilities in Daly City and Moss Beach should be sold to a private corporation fiercely opposed by some unions and officials who fear it prioritizes profits over care.
By law, Harris has final say over the proposed sale by Daughters of Charity Health System to Prime Healthcare Services. The Vatican must also approve the sale of the Catholic system.
On Friday, Jan. 9, Harris’ office will hold a pair of hearings — one at Seton Medical Center in Moss Beach and the other in Daly City where Seton Medical Center is located — to take the public temperature.
Along with the public’s perspective, Harris will consider Health Care Impact Statements prepared by consultants on each facility’s proposed change. While she can reject the sale on any basis she finds relevant, a key component is likely how it will affect the availability of health care in the area.
Daly City Councilman David Canepa is urging northern county residents in particular to chime in on the potential new buyer and the desire to keep Seton Medical Center a full-service hospital with an open emergency room.
“In addition, Seton Medical Center is Daly City’s largest employer with over 1,200 employees and its closure would be catastrophic not only to the patients but to our local economy,” Canepa wrote in an email to the Daily Journal.
Along with the two San Mateo County properties, the proposed sale includes O’Connor Hospital in San Jose, St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy and the statewide DCHS Medical Foundation.
Ontario, California-based Prime Healthcare and the Prime Healthcare Foundation own 29 acute-care facilities in nine states. If the sale is approved, Prime said it will spend at least $150 million on capital improvements over the next three years and protect 7,600 jobs at the acquisitions.
However, worry persists.
Concern over the future of Seton and its sister coastside hospital has weighed heavy on employees and officials since the chain was put on the sales block in January. Seton provides a significant amount of the county’s indigent care and receives millions of dollars of Measure A sales tax revenue in return. Seton Coastside is a 116-bed skilled nursing facility with the only 24-hour emergency department along the 55-mile coastal stretch between Daly City and Santa Cruz.
Since Prime Healthcare was announced as the preferred buyer in October, proponents and opponents have waged a public relations battle and the two primary unions involved have picked sides. SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West oppose the sale, pointing to what it says is Prime’s history of investigations for Medicare overbilling and threats to take DCHS hospitals into bankruptcy. SEIU-UHW prefers Blue Wolf Capital Partners as the buyer.
The California Nurses Association opposes blocking the sale because it says doing so would jeopardize vital hospital services, jobs and health. CNA reached an agreement with Prime for Seton, O’Connor and St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles that promises the hospitals will be operated for a minimum of five years, all pension promises made to current and future retirees remain intact and no services will be reduced. CNA also said the two entities reached a framework agreement on collective bargaining rights, job preservation and maintaining labor standards.
The union emphasized its position with a Dec. 12 visit in front of O’Connor Hospital and on Wednesday will take to the state Capitol steps to support the sale.
“Those who oppose the sale are playing a dangerous game with our patients and our communities that could be steering the hospitals toward bankruptcy and closure. As nurses we will do whatever we can to prevent this from happening in order to protect public access to health care and emergency services,” Zenei Cortez, a registered nurse and CNA co-president, said in a prepared statement.
On Dec. 15, DCHS’s public relations firm announced that some SEIU members are bucking their union’s stance by voluntarily signing an online petition in favor of the plan. As of Tuesday, the Change.org petition had more than 17,000 supporters although it was unclear how many are employees or union members.
Officials have also joined the fray. In August, the Daly City Council adopted a resolution calling on Harris to order any buyer of Seton Medical Center to keep the facility operating as a full-service acute hospital with the same employees, labor agreements and pension obligations.
State Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, sent Harris a letter outlining concerns about a sale to Prime and Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, said he hopes the sale is nixed. Earlier this month, U.S. representatives Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, and Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, and 14 other House members from California also urged Harris to reject the sale in a letter than cited Prime’s history of unfair business practices and lawsuits over wage and hour violations.
Both hearings are Friday, Jan. 9: 9 a.m.. at Seton Medical Center-Coastside, 600 Marine Blvd., Moss Beach and 1 p.m. at Daly City’s Merced Room, 145 Lake Merced Blvd., Daly City. Speakers may submit a sign up sheet at the meetings or contact Deputy Attorney General Scott Chan by Jan. 2 at scott.chan@doj.ca.gov or (415) 703-5652. Comments in writing may also be submitted to Chan by phone, email, fax at (415) 703-5480 or mail at 455 Golden Gate Ave., Suite 11000, San Francisco, CA 94102. The deadline for written comments is Jan. 12.
Once available, the Health Care Impact Statements will be at www.oag.ca.gov/charities/nonprofithosp.