Another Catholic hospital goes
for-profit
By GARY MacEOIN
Special to the National Catholic Reporter
To the dismay of the local bishop and the consternation of the
hospital staff, Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., the nations largest
for-profit health care chain, has acquired the Alexian Brothers 204-bed
hospital in San Jose, Calif.
The decision of the Alexian Brothers has occasioned shock
and deep concern in the diocese of San Jose, Bishop Pierre DuMaine said
in an official statement.
The bishop said neither he nor the Catholic and health care
communities of San Jose and Santa Clara had been consulted about the
transaction. He said he feared that Columbia would not continue the
hospitals commitment to Catholic values and the poor.
DuMaines concerns typify those voiced in the growing
national debate over purchases of Catholic hospitals by for-profit
corporations. Controversy over the sale of Jesuit St. Louis University Hospital
to Tenet Health Care, the second-largest chain after Columbia, has provoked
discussion for the past year about the role of Catholic health care and the
conflict between pleasing investors and serving the sick and poor.
Alexian Brothers Hospital is the only hospital serving a large
low-income, ethnic area on San Joses east side. There are no guarantees
that it will not be absorbed into other facilities already owned by Columbia,
which now has a dominant role in health care delivery in San Jose. The
citys remaining Catholic hospital is OConnor Hospital, operated by
the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.
No decisions have been made about the long-term future of Alexian
Brothers Hospital. However, Bill Gilbert, CEO at Columbias San Jose
Medical Center, has said his facility and Alexian Brothers are expected to
consolidate operations. According to Gilbert, the hospital, which is located
about two-and-a-half miles from San Jose Medical Center, will not necessarily
close. However, he did not rule out the possibility. He added that there would
be a fair process should there be a future need to change the way the
facilities are staffed.
Alexian Brothers Hospital has 1,200 full- and part-time employees.
It has collective bargaining agreements with two nurses unions and an
engineers union, agreements that are guaranteed in the transfer
agreement, according to Leslie Kelsay, director of community relations for the
Alexian Brothers.
A swap of properties was involved in the transfer of ownership.
The hospitals parent company, Alexian Brothers Health System of Elk Grove
Village, Ill., will take over two of Columbias facilities, Hoffman Estate
Medical Center and Woodland Hospital, in suburban Chicago. Alexian Brothers
will also pay Columbia an undisclosed amount of cash.
Roberta Ward, director of media relations for the San Jose
diocese, told NCR that California state law mandates that when a
for-profit health company buys a nonprofit organization, a portion of the funds
must go into the public health care trust fund, the amount being based on the
benefits enjoyed by the nonprofit during its life.
When Columbia acquired the Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose two
or three years ago, an $87 million charge for the health trust fund was
established. However, as the acquisition of the 33-year-old Alexian Brothers
Hospital is in the form of a swap, Ward says, it is unclear what Columbia will
be expected to pay.
Kelsay said the Alexian Brothers maintain that because Columbia is
a Texas corporation, the transaction does not come under the provisions of the
state law. The brothers, however, as a demonstration of concern for the
continuance of the mission and values here, will make a gift, the amount
of which has not been determined.
Whether Alexian Brothers Hospital will continue to treat large
numbers of poor people or provide other religion-inspired services is the
question being asked by many of the hospital staff and the large body of
volunteers.
Betrayal is how they describe the situation, even though
they are frightened to express their outrage publicly, said Br. Jim
Johnson, one of three brothers who work at the hospital.
Johnson said that staff and volunteers, many of whom are
Vietnamese and Filipino, are shocked at the expected disappearance of all
Catholic symbols from the hospital. They wonder if there will still be a daily
Mass for patients and staff. Will nurses be expected to participate in
abortions, which they regard as murder?
Another question is the fate of the chaplaincy, now staffed by two
priests, two nuns and several lay people, Johnson said. They know what
happened at the Good Samaritan when Columbia took it over, he said.
It had a full-time [chaplaincy] staff of seven headed by a Lutheran
pastor and a Catholic priest. The first Columbia budget provided for one
part-time chaplain working 20 hours a week.
Similar concerns were voiced to NCR by Ward. The community
interest in the hospital is strong, she said. Many of the volunteers do
what they are doing because they believe in the brothers mission. They
had very innovative programs. It is all very tragic.
National Catholic Reporter, September 18,
1998
|