| |
1st
appeared 24 May 1999
Kerr Responds to Speculation on Mount Zion's
Future
San Francisco newspapers published reports last week that the future of UCSF/Mount Zion
Medical Center is uncertain. The articles in the Chronicle and Examiner speculated that
Mount Zion might close its emergency room and limit surgeries to those that do not require
an overnight stay.
Bill Kerr, Chief Operating Officer of UCSF Stanford Health Care, issued this statement
last Thursday in Transition Times in response to these reports:
"You may have read stories in today's newspapers about the future of UCSF/Mount Zion
Medical Center. Articles in the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner discuss the potential
for programmatic and structural changes in our services as a result of our financial
situation. Despite speculations to the contrary, no decisions have been made about the
future of Mount Zion.
As you know, we're in the middle of a financial recovery plan that calls for cost
reductions totaling $170 million to help the organization break even in fiscal year 2000.
Even after these cuts have been made, we will continue to face great financial challenges
as Medicare reductions dictated by the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997 hit us even
harder than they do today, and other revenues fail to keep pace with rising costs. We
currently estimate that UCSF Stanford must make an additional $100 million in
financial improvements in fiscal year 2001, either in savings or increased revenues from
Medi-Cal or private payors.
Because of our future challenges, we are beginning to review possibilities for structural
changes in the way we deliver care. We expect to review alternatives that include, but are
not limited to, changes in the configuration of services between UCSF Medical Center and
Mount Zion. Over the next several months, we will explore a range of services that might
be provided on the two sites in 2001 and beyond. Our goal is to maintain the highest
quality care for our patients through the most cost-effective use of
services across the two sites.
One alternative is to review whether moving clinical programs and their hospitalized
patients from UCSF Medical Center to Mount Zion, thus allowing Parnassus programs to
expand, would help us improve the combined financial performance of the UCSF hospitals,
which we continue to regard as a single patient care organization.
We will also review the possibility of operating only those functions at the Mount Zion
site that are related to the outpatient physician practices and the outpatient clinical
cancer center. Under this alternative, we would continue to operate some outpatient
surgery, lab and radiology services, infusion and outpatient renal dialysis.
Another alternative is to operate all outpatient functions described above plus an
inpatient short-stay unit for patients requiring less than 72 hours in the hospital. This
alternative would include maintaining the ancillary and support services necessary to
operate a short-stay unit. California Pacific Medical Center operates a similar unit at
its California Street
campus.
As we consider these alternatives and other programmatic changes that would affect the
UCSF campus, we will consult with our physicians, managers and staff, the Mount Zion
Trustees and other members of the community. In fact, a Medical Staff Committee has been
formed to provide input into the decision-making process. The committee is comprised of
faculty and community physicians as well as trustees, and is co-chaired by faculty
physicians Orlo Clark and Larry Pitts. The committee will review options and give
recommendations within a designated timeframe.
If after evaluation, we propose to make significant changes in clinical programs at either
Mount Zion or UCSF Medical Center, we will meet with the San Francisco Health Commission
to discuss the impacts of those proposed changes on the larger community.
We will keep you informed of developments and further news as we move forward with the
process."
Links:
UCSF Stanford Health Care
Faculty Concerned About UCSF
Stanford's Impact on Academic Mission
UCSF Stanford to Lay Off 800
Employees
Merger Compounded -- but
Did Not Cause - Current Campus Stresses, Says Debas |
