LAKE COUNTY ? Sutter Lakeside Hospital”s (SLH) application to get designation as a critical-access hospital (CAH) has received state approval and only needs accreditation next month from the Center for Medicare Services (CMS) to be implemented.
But one county supervisor wants to “slow down” the process by asking the hospital to hire an outside party to conduct a community-needs assessment, and hold public forums before the status is made final.
CAH status would increase the hospital”s Medicare reimbursements but require the hospital to reduce its bed capacity from 69 to 25.
The hospital plans to attend an upcoming Board of Supervisor”s meeting, either Feb. 16 or March 4, according to SLH CEO Kelly Mather. “After that we will consider whether we need community forums,” Mather said.
“Whether they are there or not, we are going to hold a public forum regarding CAH status,” County Supervisor Anthony Farrington said Wednesday.
He said he is rallying constituents to attend the Feb. 26 meeting; especially senior citizens who?if the hospital beds are reduced?could face the hardship of traveling to receive care at a hospital with an available bed. If a bed is not available, a patient could be transferred either to the county”s only other hospital?Redbud Community Hospital which is already a CAH hospital limited to 25 beds?or to a hospital outside the county.
“We have a senior population of more than 20 percent?it may be more difficult for a senior to find transportation over-the-hill for care,” Farrington said.
Neighboring county officials in both Sonoma County and Mendocino County have voiced opposition to SLH”s proposed bed reduction, citing that more transfers from Lake County would strain those counties” healthcare infrastructure. Sutter Health is in the process of closing down a 232-bed Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa.
And in 2006, 838 Lake County residents were treated at either Sutter Medical Center or Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in Sonoma County, according to hospital data.
Mather said according to a community-needs study conducted by Sutter Health last fall, under CAH status, the hospital would be able to accommodate 98 percent of its 2,200 inpatients and more than 150,000 outpatients annually. The remainder would need to be transferred. The 2007 transfers numbered 360. Under CAH status, SLH expects that number to increase to about 550 transfers per year.
Farrington said he plans to call for an additional, independent community needs assessment study apart from the Sutter Health study conducted last fall. “It needs to look at three prongs: access to care, quality and cost. The study should look at the impact on transportation, because the fire departments will be impacted,” Farrington said.
The county fire departments are in charge of emergency ambulance transportation between the two hospitals and to facilities outside the county.
When asked whether the hospital would consider hiring an independent party to conduct a study on how CAH status would affect community health care needs, SLH spokesman Mitch Proaps said, “That”s what the community needs assessment is all about. We firmly believe transfers will not be an issue.”
“At the end of the day CAH might make sense, but we don”t have the information to support that,” Farrington said.
Mather said SLH recently found out that Lakeport Skilled Nursing would have eight beds available for SLH”s acute care patients. “Patients who have acute care needs typically stay in the hospital four days. Some of those that we take don”t have acute needs but we take them out of the goodness of our hearts. Lakeport Skilled Nursing would be another option for those patients,” Mather said.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com.
