Warning: Public medical choices could suffer if Sequoia hospital plans collapse Warning: Public medical choices could suffer if Sequoia hospital plans collapse (December 24, 2003)

By Renee Batti

Almanac News Editor

Doctors and staff at Sequoia Hospital are urging hospital officials to be more aggressive in pursuing plans to rebuild the nearly 54-year-old facility after several unexpected developments appeared to shift those plans into idle.

Spokespersons for the San Mateo County Medical Association, representing doctors, and the union representing most Sequoia employees warned at a public meeting last week that unless the plans move forward, South County residents will be short-changed in their options for medical care.

In addition, said Dr. James Missett of the medical association, emergency-room care could be jeopardized, and "doctors may well be dislocated and forced to give up their practices."

The hospital in Redwood City must be seismically retrofitted or rebuilt by 2013 to meet a state mandate, and officials early this year announced they would pursue buying land near the U.S. 101 freeway corridor to build a state-of-the-art hospital.

Those plans appeared to have stalled following the sale to another party of a portion of the 13.5-acre parcel identified as the hospital's possible new site; and the announcement by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation that it wants to build a new medical facility -- with a 100-bed hospital -- in San Carlos, only a few miles north of the site Sequoia might move to.

If that facility and Sequoia are built at the intended sites, there would be three new hospitals within miles of each other now that Kaiser in Redwood City has gotten approval to rebuild and expand its facilities at its current site. That concerns Sequoia hospital and district officials, who say the area may not be able to support three state-of-the-art hospitals.
Signs of strain

Further complicating matters, the public/private partnership that owns and administers the hospital appear to be showing signs of strain, making financing of the project uncertain and the board of the public Sequoia Healthcare District reluctant to forge ahead with plans. A report issued last summer placed the cost of relocating the hospital at $216 million, and details of who will pay for what have yet to be worked out.

Sequoia Hospital, which until 1996 was publicly owned, is now owned by a nonprofit entity administered jointly by the Sequoia Healthcare District and the private Catholic Healthcare West (CHW). It is operated under a long-term agreement by CHW.

The district found a 13.5-acre site near the freeway corridor that looked promising, and earlier this year negotiated with the owners to purchase the parcel. But "CHW wasn't interested at the time," said Art Faro, president of the health-care district board.

The option on the land expired, and a nearly 4-acre portion of the parcel was sold, Mr. Faro said.
Frustration

At the December 16 health-care district board meeting, Linda Gregory of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents much of Sequoia's staff, said hospital workers are becoming impatient. "You had a plan, and it's going to be hard for all of us to understand why you're not proceeding with it," she told the board.

But board members, too, are frustrated with the uncertainties and slow pace of progress on the planned rebuilding project, Mr. Faro said. They need answers, he said, before they can commit to spending public money on the massive construction project.

In an attempt to get some of those answers, the board tentatively scheduled a January 7 meeting with CHW and Palo Alto Medical Foundation officials.

"Before we can really proceed, the public has the right to see what the two parties have in mind," Mr. Faro said.

Meanwhile, CHW representative Michael Blaszyk told the board that CHW is now prepared to commit $150 million toward the project if the health-care district is willing to match the money. "We are prepared to move forward with the district," he said.

Later, Mr. Faro said that CHW may be looking at the possibility of buying back the portion of the 13.5-acre site that was recently sold.

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