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Sutter Admits: Closing St. Luke's Likely to Reduce Charity Care

Thursday, January 31, 2008 General News
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OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 30 Sutter Health told the SanFrancisco Chronicle in a January 27 article the reason their North of MarketCPMC campuses offer dramatically less charity care than St. Luke's Hospital,the South of Market facility they are trying to close:
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"Sutter basically admits the point that Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and thecommunity are making: their attempt to close St. Luke's is a clear example of'medical redlining,' or the dumping of a supposedly un-desirable patientpopulation," said Bonnie Castillo, RN, Director of the Sutter Division of theCalifornia Nurses Association. "Members of the California Nurses Association,and doctors and patients, are joining together to save this landmarkinstitution from closure."
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A new report by the San Francisco Department of Public Health details thatthe CPMC facilities North of Market earned $67 million in tax breaks in 2007due to their non-profit status, but performed only $5.2 million in charitycare. Even with Sutter's accounting, the facilities earned far more in taxbreaks than was spent on charity care. The result is greater pressure on SanFrancisco General Hospital and the city's clinics-and a general weakening ofthe city's public health safety net. By contrast, St. Luke's earned $630,000in tax breaks because of its non-profit status, and gave $2.5 million incharity care.Kevin McCormack, [Sutter] spokesman, countered that the hospital's three campuses are located in wealthy neighborhoods where poor and uninsured people aren't likely to seek treatment. "Those neighborhoods are not ones where you have a large low-income community," McCormack said. "We still have the responsibility, but ... it's not asked of us as much."

SOURCE California Nurses Association
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