Supervisors Put ACMC into "Receivership"

The saga of the Alameda County Medical Center continues to be one of trying to plug up the many holes on a leaky ship, the biggest of which is an over-$42 million budget deficit. The Medical Center has been only semi-independent from the county for the past several years, and it is being yanked back now, because some of the Supervisors have expressed distrust and anger over how the Medical Center is being run.

There have been two lengthy meetings since July between with the County Board of Supervisors and the ACMC Board of Trustees. The result is that the County has decided to develop a "system of financial controls" over ACMC. They'll look closely at their own system of making appointments to the Board of Trustees and decide if that should change. They've committed to keeping the remaining three freestanding clinics, the Fairmont Skilled Nursing Facility, the trauma center and acute care beds at Highland open with "bridge" money, until some other source of funding is available.

March 2004 Health Care Ballot Initiative

After one of these marathons, the supervisors were asked whether they would be supportive of a ballot initiative for March 2004 that would provide ongoing revenue for ACMC (Vote Health believes this is the only way to stabilize the Medical Center). Supervisor Nate Miley's office has been enthusiastically pursuing the feasibility of an initiative, while other supervisors claimed at that meeting that they hadn't heard about it or couldn't comment until it is in its final form. It will take the vote of three or four supervisors to put an initiative on the ballot; we continue to call for more active support and involvement on the part of all the supervisors' offices.

Prior to understanding the full scope of its financial difficulties, ACMC began work on a strategic plan for its future, which it recently voted to adopt. The plan includes rebuilding Highland and Fairmont Hospitals to meet the state's 2008 hospital earthquake retrofit requirement, as well as developing specialty services best suited to the strengths of the Medical Center that would attract insured patients. We're excited that there is such a plan, but ACMC has to exist to implement it!

Coalition to Save ACMC

Vote Health is participating in a recently convened "ACMC Coalition" of labor, community and health care policy organizations that has agreed to the following points: We will continue to lobby the County Supervisors for information and support; we believe it is the County's responsibility to provide "bridge" funding to keep ACMC's services open to the public; all services and jobs should be preserved and maintained as part of ACMC; a ballot initiative must be developed, supported, and campaigned for; and the Medical Center's strategic plan must be implemented.

In working toward these goals, Vote Health hopes to raise enough money to hire a part-time organizer by this fall. This would make our voices more powerful in the struggle to keep what's left of the Medical Center.

Updates

• On Aug. 7th, a crowd of 275 attended the Town Hall Healthcare Forum organized by ALCO Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker to discuss SB 921 and SB2, the major reform measures in the State Legislature. Senator Sheila Kuehl spoke to the enthusiastic crowd about her Health Care For All Californians Act, followed by a labor representative explaining SB2 and a panel of labor and community spokespeople. Thanks to Supervisor Lai-Bitker for organizing this town hall meeting!
• The Alameda County Central Labor Council became the first council in California to endorse SB921 at its Aug. 4 meeting. Thanks to Kay Eisenhower, SEIU 616 and Bob Martin, FORUM for making this happen!

VOTE HEALTH ENDORSES SUIT FILED BY DISABILITY RIGHTS ADVOCATES

After a presentation by Stephen Tollafield, attorney from Disability Rights Advocates, and much discussion, Vote Health's Executive Committee has decided to support the lawsuit filed by Disability Rights Advocates and Bay Area Legal Aid on behalf of the disabled and indigent patient population adversely affected by the recent closures of Central and Fairmont clinics.

The suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court on June 26, 2003, names The Alameda County Board of Supervisors and Alameda County Medical Center Board of Trustees as defendants (ACMC CEO Ken Cohen has been dropped from the suit at the request of Vote Health members). The major argument for the suit is that under the State's Welfare and Institutions Code 17000, every county has the legal duty to "relieve and support all incompetent, poor, indigent persons, and those incapacitated by age, disease, or accident, lawfully resident therein." Counties must also provide medical care "promptly and humanely" and in such a manner as "to secure for every person the amount of aid to which he isentitled..."

By closing Central and Fairmont clinics, 25,000 patients were forced to find medical care at the remaining ACMC clinics and other community-based clinics, a discouraging task for most, since these facilities were already bursting to capacity prior to the closures. It is predicted that at least half of the displaced patients will be unable to find sufficient healthcare elsewhere.

Disability Rights Advocates are now seeking stories of patients who have been unable to receive timely, accessible, and affordable healthcare since the June closures. Please call Gabi Marcus at 451-8644 if you have information concerning patients who have had difficulty receiving needed healthcare in Alameda County since July 1, 2003.

Newsletter committee:
Nancy M. Friedman, Sue Bergman, Brad Cleveland, Kay Eisenhower
Our thanks to CA Nurses Association for their help in producing this newsletter.