PRESS RELEASE — New study shows CPMC’s high profits, but poor charitable performance

MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release: December 7, 2011

CONTACT

  • Professor Mark Aaronson, UC Hastings
  • Emily Lee, Chinese Progressive Association

NEW STUDY SHOWS CPMC’S HIGH PROFITS, BUT POOR CHARITABLE PERFORMANCE

A new white paper by UC Hastings Community Economic Development Clinic finds that Sutter/CPMC has much greater financial capacity, but spends proportionately much less on community health care benefits than San Francisco’s other private non-profit hospitals, a disparity to be worsened by downsizing St. Luke’s. Sutter/CPMC’s $2 billion development plan has made the provision of community health benefits by San Francisco hospitals a major issue before the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. The negotiation of equitable community health care benefits from Sutter/CPMC, including the
maintenance of adequate safety-net services at St. Luke’s Hospital in the Mission, has been identified by elected officials and community stakeholders alike as critical to ensuring the project meets the needs of San Francisco residents.

WHO: University of California Hastings College of the Law, Community
Economic Development Clinic members; San Francisco health care
advocates and caregiver representatives

WHAT: Release of the study “Profits & Patients: The Financial Strength
and Charitable Contributions of San Francisco Hospitals”

WHEN: Thursday, December 8, 11:00 a.m.

WHERE: UC Hastings College of the Law, 100 McAllister St., Room 300,
San Francisco

WHY: By examining the comparative financial capacity and charitable performance of San Francisco’s private non-profit hospitals, “Profits & Patients” provides a comprehensive and appropriate context for determining the scale and specifics of the community health care benefits that should be required from Sutter/CPMC.

VISUALS:  UC Hastings Community Economic Development Clinic members, San Francisco health care advocates, and caregiver representatives discussing the report along with graphic illustrations.

Among the report’s key findings are:

• Profits: Between 2006 and 2010, CPMC-St. Luke’s, by far San Francisco’s most profitable hospital, had net income of $743.9 million compared to St. Mary’s which had net income of $22.6 million and Saint Francis which lost $14.8 million.

• Charity Care: In 2010, CPMC’s three historic campuses (Davies,California, and Pacific campuses) saw charity care patients at a patients per bed rate less than half that of Saint Francis, despite being more than 3 times the size of Saint Francis and having significantly greater financial capacity.

• St. Luke’s: In 2010, St. Luke’s reported approximately half of its patient days as serving those on Medi-Cal. SFGH is the only other hospital in San Francisco where there is such a high percentage of patient days utilized by Medi-Cal patients.  The planned downsizing of
St. Luke’s threatens this critical access to care.

• With approximately 99,000 patients currently seeking charity care and 130,945 patients currently relying on Medi-Cal, and an expectation that these numbers will grow even under federal health care reform, the need for all of San Francisco’s private non-profit hospitals to serve low-income San Francisco residents at levels commensurate with their capacity and profitability is a vitally important public policy goal.