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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 12022014 - D.8 ALAMEDA-CONTRA COSTA MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 6230 Claremont Avenue, Oakland, CA 94618 · (510) 654-5383 · FAX (510) 654-8959 · accma@accma.org December 1, 2014 Sent Via FAX and E-mail Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors 651 Pine Street, Room 107 Martinez, CA 94553 Honorable Members of the Board: On behalf of the 3700 members of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association (ACCMA), I urge you to approve Item D.8 on your meeting agenda on December 2nd, which would enable Doctors Medical Center (DMC) and retain a portion of funds loaned to it by the County. In a community of 250,000 people DMC provides the majority of the emergency care and essential life-saving specialty services, especially for the most vulnerable patients. Moreover, its absence would make it difficult for the remaining East Bay hospitals to meet the medical needs of East Bay citizens, particularly for emergency care and during flu outbreaks. DMC faces the same financial challenges that any safety net facility faces: the cost of delivering care to the majority of the patients it serves is not fully paid by the state and federal health care programs that cover those patients. To survive, such facilities are usually subsidized by local government and a special designation that enables them to receive higher reimbursement rates. You are undoubtedly familiar with this challenge as managers of Contra Costa Regional Medical Center. Ideally, the Medi-Cal and Medicare programs would adequately pay for the health care services they promise, but that hasn’t happened for decades. You will recall recent state legislation you supported (authored by Assembly Member Skinner and Senators DeSaulnier and Hancock) that would have designated DMC as a safety net facility so that it could receive higher payment rates. Unfortunately, that legislation was unsuccessful. Item D.8 before you represents a part of a multi-pronged proposal to make up DMC’s funding shortfall, and is viewed as the last chance to save the hospital. The total funding plan will largely be funded by the West Contra Costa County community. While recognizing the inequities of Medi-Cal and Medicare payment policies, and the commitment that Contra Costa County already makes to underserved patients, the ACCMA respectfully asks you to grant this request to help make this proposal work. The health of the many patients that DMC serves is dependent on DMC’s survival as a full-service hospital. Thank you for your consideration of this request. Sincerely, Frank Staggers, Jr., MD President Cc: Eric Zell, Chair, West Contra Costa Healthcare District Richard Stern, MD, President, Doctors Medical Center Medical Staff Dawn Gideon, CEO, Doctors Medical Center William Walker, MD, Director, Contra Costa Health Services Rebecca Rozen, Regional Vice-President, East Bay Section, Hospital Council of Northern and Central California