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The Kaiser Mental Health Strike, which is now in its ninth week, continues to generate coverage including stories on how Kaiser’s refusal to offer a fair contract is impacting patients. Capital and Main wrote about mass appointment cancellations and KPBS in San Diego interviewed patients struggling to get care during the strike. Adrianna Webb wrote on Labor Notes gave her first person perspective as a striker.
KTLA Channel 5 and ABC7 covered the first-ever informational picket at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital by nearly 400 NUHW members who are seeking a contract that will secure safe staffing levels, along with equitable salaries and benefits.
The San Benito Health Care District has announced the next six steps in the ongoing process to finalize the lease-to-own transaction between Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital and Insight. According to SanBenito.com the next steps include finalizing definitive agreements, filing applications with the state, presentation of agreements to the board, board approval and submission of regulatory filings, regulatory review and approval, and the close of the transaction and Insight’s management transition.
Half of the state’s birthing centers have closed since 2020, leaving only four licensed facilities open. This rapid closure of hospital labor wards, creating maternity care deserts in communities of all sizes has prompted Assemblymember Mia Bonta, a Democrat from Oakland and chairperson of the Assembly Health Committee, to introduce AB 55 (Birth Center Licensure Streamlining) to ease birthing center licensing requirements, CalMatters reported. Birthing centers don’t need a state license to operate, but the expensive and onerous process of obtaining one is one of the primary reasons why birth centers are failing. Most insurers and Medi-Cal, the state’s public health insurance program for low-income residents, will only work with licensed facilities.
According to ABC10, Sutter Health plans to start construction on a three-story, $145 million Sutter Folsom Ambulatory Care Complex in early spring 2025, and completion is planned for 2026. The 106,500-square-foot facility will feature specialists such as oncologists, OB-GYNs, neurologists, cardiologists, orthopedists, ENTs and urologists, outpatient surgery, in-house imaging, lab services, and a cancer center with its own entrance for those who are immunocompromised.
Becker’s Hospital Review reported that the $712 million expansion of Providence Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo is underway. The new tower is expected to be completed by 2030, with additional campus improvements planned through 2032. Current plans include 12 operating rooms and a total of 76 beds, along with an expanded emergency department, the spokesperson said. The tower will replace the pavilion building, which houses operating rooms and an acute rehab facility, The Orange County Register reported. Announced in 2022, the project also calls for two multi-specialty health centers, one in Rancho Mission Viejo and one in San Clemente.
Amy Herold, MD, has been named chief administrative officer of Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, reported Becker’s Hospital Review. Dr. Herold will continue serving as chief medical officer in addition to her new role. She succeeds Scott Ciesielski, who was appointed chief administrative officer for Providence’s Sonoma County service area. After spending more than seven years at Queen of the Valley, Dr. Herold was named chief medical officer of South Bay Providence hospitals in Los Angeles in 2022. She returned to Queen of the Valley in March.
