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  1. TopTop #1
    Peacetown Jonathan's Avatar
    Investigative Reporter

    New Petition and Campaign to Help Sonoma West Hospital’s Cash Flow Crisis

    (The full text of this article appeared today here at The Sonoma Independent.org here, where the petition can be signed on the right of the page)

    A new grassroots Friends of Sonoma West Medical Center launched its first public campaign today to urge the elected Palm Drive Health Care District Board to take immediate action to secure bridge financing for the thriving hospital while it waits to start receiving Medicare and insurance reimbursements.

    Although the hospital has already saved lives and helped 3,000 patients, and although its average daily census is now running 50% ahead of Palm Drive Hospital’s
    during the year before it closed, a cash flow crisis caused by the need to finance three months of full operations with virtually no payments looms as early as the February 4 payroll next week.

    In response, the Friends group is calling on hospital supporters to speak up at next week’s monthly District Board meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday at the Hospital. Board Chair Jim Maresca has placed the funding crisis on the agenda, and told The Sonoma Independent that he is personally committed to doing what it takes to insure that the new hospital does not miss a payroll.

    The Friends of Sonoma West Medical Center have launched a petition calling for immediate action. It can be signed to the right of this page and read in full by linking here.The petition urges “the Palm Drive Health Care District Board to take immediate action to secure bridge financing in the form of a loan from the District and an advance from the Sonoma County Assessor’s Office to ensure that the hospital and its life saving emergency room can meet its payroll in February and March while waiting for reimbursement from Medicare, Medi-Cal and private insurance companies.”

    In its background description, the petition explains:

    “The good news for the people of West Sonoma County is that our new community hospital is flourishing. In just three short months since reopening, business has surpassed expectations. The in-patient daily census at Sonoma West Medical Center (SWMC), which averages nearly 14 people a day, continues to rise, and is already 50% higher than Palm Drive Hospital was during the year before it closed. The no-wait emergency room is saving lives, with about 20 patients every day. More than 100 lab tests are being run daily, and surgeries have commenced. Locals say they feel safer and are relieved that they no longer have to face long hours of waiting in Santa Rosa hospitals. The humane, personal care that made Palm Drive the safest hospital in the entire State of California is back, and patients have never been happier.

    "Unfortunately, millions of dollars of Medicare, Medi-Cal and private insurance reimbursements are facing long bureaucratic delays. The impact of this delayed reimbursement means that SWMC’s philanthropic reserves have been used up. Once reimbursement arrives, our hospital will be making the money it needs to be self-sustaining. But until then, SWMC will require bridge financing.
    "To provide bridge financing during this critical time, we urge the District Board to advance our hospital $700,000 from its ample cash account, and to immediately request that the Board of Supervisors provide an emergency advance of one million dollars against this year’s tax revenue from the County Assessor’s office. After all, the tax Measure passed by 70% of voters in 2004 stated that the purpose of our parcel tax is “to ensure survival of Palm Drive Hospital and access to local emergency, acute care, medical and physician services, and provide for ongoing expenses, repair and improvements to equipment and technology.”

    "Such County Assessor advances are frequently granted to help other County agencies and special districts overcome cash flow challenges. Less than two years ago, Sonoma County’s Board of Supervisors provided an emergency loan of $1.8 million to finance the closure of Palm Drive Hospital.

    During this critical period, the people of West Sonoma County have a more urgent need: bridge financing to ensure that our life-saving hospital stays open until the money it has earned comes in.”

    article continues here...
    Last edited by Bella Stolz; 01-30-2016 at 12:37 PM.
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  3. TopTop #2
    jbox's Avatar
    jbox
     

    Re: New Petition and Campaign to Help Sonoma West Hospital’s Cash Flow Crisis

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Peacetown Jonathan: View Post
    (The full text of this article appeared today here at The Sonoma Independent.org here, where the petition can be signed on the right of the page)

    A new grassroots Friends of Sonoma West Medical Center launched its first public campaign today to urge the elected Palm Drive Health Care District Board to take immediate action to secure bridge financing for the thriving hospital while it waits to start receiving Medicare and insurance reimbursements. ...
    Golly, Peacetown Jonathan, it sounds like deja vu all over again! Can't some local billionaire provide the bridge loan, just for a little while, right? I heard there's a guy named Smith who might just fit the bill but that may be a made up name. The hospital has only been open for a couple months and they're up the creek already? Like this "temporary" shortfall wasn't foreseen. There must be some local astrologers or fortunetellers who could have helped out.

    Perhaps the hospital is just too small and can't compete in the real world of 21st century health care even with the huge taxpayer subsidy it enjoys (that no other hospital enjoys). Many taxpayers saddled with paying for Sonoma West can't even use the hospital because they are Kaiser members, etc. Lots of these folks who are forced to pay are in the River corridor and Sutter is closer and has more services. I say let's put this to a vote again. I bet there wouldn't be a 70% plurality to cover Wells Farg's arse.

    Sorry about the rant but I'm just calling it like I see it.
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  4. TopTop #3
    gypsey's Avatar
    gypsey
     

    Re: New Petition and Campaign to Help Sonoma West Hospital’s Cash Flow Crisis

    The local "billionaire" named Smith (who I believe is just a millionaire) has to my knowledge given several of those millions to re-launch the hospital. What seems to be missing from your post is a clear understanding of why the cash flow crisis exists. It is not about the hospital's performance, but about the red tape delays of Medicare repayments connected to reopening. Personally I found the article from Jonathon and the petition really clear regarding why this happened and that the hospital is doing well. I encourage you to read the article and the petition thoroughly.

    Personally I am very pleased there is now a petition and I have signed it.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by jbox: View Post
    ...I heard there's a guy named Smith who might just fit the bill but that may be a made up name. The hospital has only been open for a couple months and they're up the creek already? ...
    Last edited by Bella Stolz; 02-01-2016 at 12:25 PM.
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  6. TopTop #4
    Dianala's Avatar
    Dianala
     

    Re: New Petition and Campaign to Help Sonoma West Hospital’s Cash Flow Crisis

    This kind of response is uninformed and very negative. This is not what the community needs right now. The hospital is doing quite well right now if you really pay attention. Dan and Joan are NOT billionaires, that was an irresponsible reporter/editor from the Press Democrat who started that falsehood. Dan and Joan have given their all to support this hospital and now the community needs to step up.

    This is a temporary situation and the problem is not the hospital, it is the very slow federal medicare bureaucracy. The feds reviewed the hospital a few months ago and only had some minor issues that were taken care of quickly. The need for a bridge loan is to cover the gap until the medicare number is issued and the hospital can start billing for the services it has already provided.

    Pay attention to the facts, and let go of the negative lens. We need cool heads and warm hearts to get through these challenging times.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by jbox: View Post
    Golly, Peacetown Jonathan, it sounds like deja vu all over again! Can't some local billionaire provide the bridge loan, just for a little while, right? ...
    Last edited by Bella Stolz; 02-01-2016 at 01:05 PM.
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  8. TopTop #5
    Dogenzip's Avatar
    Dogenzip
     

    Re: New Petition and Campaign to Help Sonoma West Hospital’s Cash Flow Crisis

    You have your facts wrong. The hospital simply requires one-time funding to cover money it will be paid for services already provided, about $2.5M of funds which will come in when Medicare finally releases a billing number.

    West County Medical Center is well on it's way to being self-sustaining. The census (buns-in-beds), ER visits, laboratory tests, and other medical services are above projected levels and are increasing. Would you not prefer to be rushed to an nearby ER should you have a stroke, heart attack or an accident, rather than being transported 20 to 35 additional minutes to a Santa Rosa hospital and then having to wait to be seen because their ER's are really busy? I look upon the one time my annual parcel tax as a valuable and relatively inexpensive insurance policy. And remember the demographic bulge in our community are aging boomers.
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  10. TopTop #6
    jbox's Avatar
    jbox
     

    Re: New Petition and Campaign to Help Sonoma West Hospital’s Cash Flow Crisis

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by gypsey: View Post
    ... What seems to be missing from your post is a clear understanding of why the cash flow crisis exists. It is not about the hospital's performance, but about the red tape delays of Medicare repayments connected to reopening. Personally I found the article from Jonathon and the petition really clear regarding why this happened and that the hospital is doing well. I encourage you to read the article and the petition thoroughly...
    I understand the situation and I did read the article. My point centered around the shortfall which should have been anticipated. The hospital should have had a plan in place to cover the time where there are unreimbursed costs. The fact that the Board now has to go begging for a loan shows a a lack of foresight, in a very public way. This is not good PR.

    I still reiterate my objection to the River corridor paying for the hospital when a better and closer alternative exists. There is a petition circulating for divestment.
    Last edited by Bella Stolz; 02-01-2016 at 12:27 PM.
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  11. TopTop #7
    Gail Raborn's Avatar
    Gail Raborn
     

    Re: New Petition and Campaign to Help Sonoma West Hospital’s Cash Flow Crisis

    No, the hospital is not up the creek already. There's several million dollars that will be paid for past bills, as soon as Medicare releases it. Once that money comes in, and will continue to come in, for 50% of all SWMC billing is from Medicare, the hospital will be on solid financial footing. The money could come in any day - literally. By May at the latest, the hospital should be on sound financial footing...and that will only get stronger as more and more folks come to our wonderful new community hospital with it's outstanding medical staff, compassionate care, and state of the art medical equipment.

    Our hospital is not for the elite - it's for us ordinary folks. Plus - it has a lab that's available to anyone who needs to get lab tests.

    Besides: how many startup businesses are able to run in the black immediately upon opening? I don't know of any. There would have been plenty of money to cover costs of SWMC's last few months, if bureaucratic delays by the government hadn't pushed the grand opening from April to October. The State's took its own sweet time approving all the various hospital systems, months longer than they needed to; thus savings were mostly depleted - and - outstanding bills, submitted in the past few months, still haven't been paid. But they will: even several of our Congressmen are on the case with Medicare, insisting they pay that money now.

    Besides: If it weren't for Dan Smith and his wife Joan, we wouldn't even HAVE our new hospital - which has already saved lives and served several thousand patients since October of this year. And even wealthy people have limits on the money they can donate: do you really think they're billionaires? WRONG! not even close. Nor should this amazingly generous couple have to singly subsidize our wonderful new hospital.This should be a community effort, to provide extra backup funding, above and beyond the insurance money that does and will cover hospital payrolls and overhead. I'm waiting for other wealthy West County folks to open their pocketbooks to donate money to help support SWMC - for our hospital could just possibly save the lives of someone in their own family, or a family friend.

    My impression is that as far as you are concerned, even in crisis you wouldn't consider going to to the ER at SWMC: like a stroke, heart attack, accident. Right? BUT - It can take many hours before you're seen at a Santa Rosa ER - and our new hospital's ER is truly no-wait. Do you want to chance your life driving to a Santa Rosa hospital when you have a superb hospital ready to save your life right here? Sutter has VERY long wait time at their ER: just ask anyone who works there. Plus, the driving time is about the same, coming from Guernevile or the Russian River to either Sebastopol or Santa Rosa. By the way - if need for an ER exists, you're wise to go to the nearest hospital. SWMC won't turn away anyone in an emergency, even if you belong to Kaiser.

    It's essential to ask the District Board to immediately approve the one-time, short term financial help our hospital needs at this time. This is a major part of the District Board's job: to use funds from the parcel taxes to provide for a hospital, medical care and an emergency room for West Sonoma County. That's what Measure W, which created the parcel taxes was created to do!

    Please: come to the District Board meeting tomorrow night, Monday, 5:30pm in the Conference Room at Sonoma West Medical Center, to ask the district board to approve immediate short-term bridge financing to SUPPORT OUR HOSPITAL!

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by jbox: View Post
    Golly, Peacetown Jonathan, it sounds like deja vu all over again! Can't some local billionaire provide the bridge loan, just for a little while, right? I heard there's a guy named Smith who might just fit the bill ...
    Last edited by Barry; 02-01-2016 at 08:34 AM.
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  13. TopTop #8
    Sandy2y
    Guest

    Re: New Petition and Campaign to Help Sonoma West Hospital’s Cash Flow Crisis

    That's a really nasty reply, which sounds like daja vu all over again from some who value money over the community's health. Let's keep this on a civil playing field and not engage in 'woe is me' tactics.

    Sandy

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by jbox: View Post
    Golly, Peacetown Jonathan, it sounds like deja vu all over again! Can't some local billionaire provide the bridge loan, just for a little while, right? ...
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  15. TopTop #9
    gypsey's Avatar
    gypsey
     

    Re: New Petition and Campaign to Help Sonoma West Hospital’s Cash Flow Crisis

    You may object in principle to the River Corridor paying the parcel tax but your comments regarding the hospital board's "lack of foresight" re the Medicare reimbursement is misguided. Several others have explained the nuts and bolts so I won't add to the info that is already out there for you to review.

    In my opinion, unless the hospital management was psychic, they could not have predicted the time delay for the hospital opening and therefore, the cascading delay of Medicare reimbursement once it was fully operational.

    BTW I am not a hospital "groupie". I just looked at the facts.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by jbox: View Post
    I understand the situation and I did read the article. My point centered around the shortfall which should have been anticipated...
    Last edited by Bella Stolz; 02-02-2016 at 11:20 AM.
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  17. TopTop #10
    Sara S's Avatar
    Sara S
    Auntie Wacco

    Re: New Petition and Campaign to Help Sonoma West Hospital’s Cash Flow Crisis

    Having our hospital open will save lives. Even if I were in the "corridor" and belonged to another system, I'd gladly pay whatever those folks do, because I would know that my little contribution would be helping to save lives.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by jbox: View Post
    ...I still reiterate my objection to the River corridor paying for the hospital when a better and closer alternative exists. There is a petition circulating for divestment.
    Last edited by Bella Stolz; 02-02-2016 at 11:21 AM.
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