Despite urgent pleas from county leaders and local activists, state officials will not intervene in the closure of life-saving hospital services in east San Jose.
The California Department of Public Health told Bay Area state lawmakers that the state does not have the authority to deny closure or reduction of services at the Regional Medical Center because these cuts are classified as supplemental services, sources tell San José Spotlight. The state informed lawmakers of its decision in response to a June 17 letter the local delegation sent asking for intervention from the public health department. The letter, signed by Assemblymembers Ash Kalra, Marc Berman, Alex Lee, Evan Low and Gail Pellerin, urged the state to review the situation.
“Your urgent action is necessary to protect the well-being of our constituents and uphold HCA’s promise to put patients first,” the letter says.
The only option left is Attorney General Rob Bonta to intervene in HCA’s plan, after receiving a letter of complaint from community activists who called the decision “discriminatory.”
Bonta’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
In April, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors asked the state to do just that. Community health advocates responded to the state’s decision Monday with a protest outside the Regional Medical Center, where private owner HCA Healthcare plans to reduce stroke services and close its heart attack and trauma services on August 12.
The state has the authority to stop the HCA’s decision if it determines that action is warranted to prevent public harm, but it has historically refused to intervene in hospital decisions. Community health advocates warn that the closure will disproportionately affect low-income people in East San Jose, as well as uninsured populations throughout the Bay Area who will now have to wait longer for care in Valley Medical Center, the next closest hospital.
For four months, the idea of losing one of the county’s only trauma centers — and sending patients with life-threatening medical conditions to other county waiting rooms that are already full — has sparked protests from elected county officials and hospital leaders. public.
Emergency response workers also warn that this could lead to life-threatening ambulance delays across the region, as patients needing services no longer offered after August would have to be moved elsewhere or drive half an hour to the next closest trauma center.
County doctors have publicly considered the “dystopian” idea in public hearings earlier this year, warning that the closures could send a 70% increase in the number of trauma patients, or about 2,600 cases per year, to the Medical Center. Valley, poorly equipped and with few resources. kilometers of distance.
The private national health corporation behind the planned cuts has dismissed warnings from county officials.
“This campaign against the Regional Medical Center chooses exaggeration and theatrics to create false fear among members of the community we serve,” HCA spokesperson Carmella Gutierrez said in a statement saying the center’s closure trauma will affect less than “2% of patients treated daily. .”
In 2023, Gutierrez said the hospital received an average of four patients per day who met trauma classification criteria, and half were sent home from the emergency department. He said patients who have less serious injuries, such as lacerations, non-complex fractures and minor head injuries, will continue to be treated at the hospital.
“In the future, we will arrange transportation for the few patients who need a higher level of care,” Gutiérrez said.
Regional Medical Center’s stroke center serves 65% of the county’s uninsured stroke patients, according to county data.
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HCA has a reputation for putting profits before patients. In San Jose, the multibillion-dollar corporation has been systematically closing services that rely on Medicare and Medi-Cal patients due to lower profit margins.
In 2004, HCA closed San José Medical Center, the only hospital downtown. In 2020, the corporation closed the delivery room at Regional, which had an immediate effect on East San Jose residents. In 2023, HCA closed its intensive care psychiatrist services and neonatal intensive care unit at San José Good Samaritan Hospital.
In 2023, the North Carolina Attorney General took similar action against HCA for severe service cuts at a local nonprofit hospital acquired by HCA, forcing patients in that state to travel longer distances to receive care. . Regional Medical Center was also run by a nonprofit organization before being acquired by HCA in 1998.
“The Regional Medical Center is available for all health care emergencies. “We are expanding our emergency department by adding 20 more beds,” Gutiérrez said. “We will triage all trauma victims as we have and are prepared to provide initial treatment to all STEMI and stroke victims. Again, just as we have done.”
This story will be updated.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.
