Dedicated to Empowering and Informing the Burlingame Community
There will be a community meeting at the Burlingame Public Library Monday evening, 5/23/2005, at 7:00 PM to discuss the future of Peninsula Hospital. This meeting is open to the public. Patient care, Sutter Health's billing practices, and affordable healthcare for the community will be among the topics for discussion. Residents of San Mateo County deserve the best possible healthcare for an affordable price. See you on Monday!
– Written by nancyyar
Let’s hope everyone is honest about the smear campaign launched by the service employees union against the hospital. What a sham.
Bill, are the figures about the hospital’s high prices true or false. For anyone who has used a medical service recently, this is very important. Does this hospital overcharge compared to other hospitals?
There is a nicely balanced editorial in today’s Daily Journal that addresses the underlying issue of union goals across Northern California vs. the near-term need for things to get moving on a new hospital structure. The bottom line of the editorial is “The unions should let the Guardians and the district board continue their work so the community gets the state-of-the-art hospital it deserves.” Any comments on how the meeting went last night beyond the Daily News piece that there were questions raised?
See Blogs titled “How Much” and “Sutter’s Monopoly on Peninsula Healthcare” in the Hospital Redevelopment section of this site. These are two former postings that point out the cost issues of the new hospital. While we need a new state of the art hospital, it is important to keep a monopolist in check even it it is just through public information. Sutter has established monopoly practices in Sacramento and the East Bay and is working on the Peninsula. Blue Shield refused to include Sutter hospitals in its network because of its pricing practices.
Sutter’s construction of its new hospital in San Carlos may put Sequoia Hospital out of business and give Sutter a Seton-Mills-Peninsula-San Carlos-Palo Alto (?) monopoly over the peninsula. Are the unions really out of line?
Sounds like two monopolies (the SEIU vs. Sutter) with hammer and tongs. I have to give the benefit of the doubt to the side the Guardians are with.
The Guardians have saved the day on this issue. If the Guardians had not stood up for the citizens, Sutter would have rolled over the residents of the Peninsula.
Unfortunately, I do not know all of the facts regarding this very complex issue, but my limited contact with representatives for the union have left a bitter taste in my mouth.
When addressing the issue of public meetings a union representative made it sound as though the hospital had to hold five public meeting, but they could be any time of day or night or all in one day. I questioned this and asked for any regulations governing this type of behavior. I got the feeling my request was in violation of some policy, etc. I must say sometime later I did receive a copy of sub chapter “P” and as it turns out the union representative was putting her spin on how meeting could be conducted. The hospital authourity is governed by the “Brown Act” which address how meeting have to noticed. If this is any indication of the union’s spin, what aren’t they tell us. As a side note I believe the union representative made a mistake and included my name on an email that she was sending to her superior, I presume and she made the comment “can you believe someone is questioning this”.
I have received numerous cardiac procedures at Penninsula Hospital and each and every time, the service was GREAT. I do not know where the union received their data, because I was never asked or received anything asking about my opinion of the service.
Looks like Sutter’s fighting back on the PR side. I got a piece of ad mail from them today refuting a numbers of union allegations. One thing I didn’t realize was that the SEIU doesn’t even represent Mills-Peninsula employees.
I don’t claim to know all the details of the issue, but I have had a few experiences in both the Burlingame and San Mateo hopsitals (including the birth of my second daughter in Burlingame). If quality of care is an issue, I know which side I come down on.
There was an article this week in the Chronicle about Sutter in general, which provides a bit of background info on the company and on some of the allegations made by the union and by others.
I somehow lost the glossy from Sutter (no surprise, I’m drowning in end-of-school year stuff), I wish I had seen what was inside. If SEIU doesn’t represent Mills-Pen. employees, who does?
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