Business
Another California hospital to close
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 27, 2004
The San Jose Medical Center in northern California has become the latest in a series of acute care hospitals in the state to make plans to close this year.
The 328-bed, Level II trauma center plans to shut its doors Dec. 9 because of mounting financial woes. The 81-year-old hospital said it is the sixth California hospital to announce its closure in 2004 because of financial deficits.
Leslie Kelsay, a hospital administrator, said San Jose Medical Center had lost $12 million in 2002 and $16.3 million in 2003 and expects to post a larger loss in 2004. She said several factors had fueled its financial problems, including a large number of uninsured patients, low reimbursement from government payers, escalating labor costs and unfunded mandates.
Rather than paying an estimated $55 million to $100 million to retrofit the facility to meet new seismic standards, Kelsay said the hospital had planned to expand its services at a sister facility, Regional Medical Center of San Jose, less than three miles away. Both hospitals are owned by HCA.
The construction was expected to be completed in 2007, at which time San Jose Medical Center would have closed. But Kelsay said the hospital couldn't survive its financial crisis that long.
Still, she said the project to expand at Regional Medical Center is moving forward.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/09/27/bibf0927.htm.
