MH council hears report on return of medical services
A long-term strategy to bring medical services back to Morgan
Hill needs a short-term cash transfusion to shore up the shaky
status quo as resources continue to disappear, city council members
were told this week.
MH council hears report on return of medical services
A long-term strategy to bring medical services back to Morgan Hill needs a short-term cash transfusion to shore up the shaky status quo as resources continue to disappear, city council members were told this week.
The sobering report, a preview of a full-blown study due the council next month, was given by members of the Morgan Hill Community Health Foundation.
Council members, with Mayor Dennis Kennedy absent, took no action Wednesday.
The council-created foundation has been looking for a year for ways to improve the paltry choice of medical service available to city residents since St. Louise Hospital closed its doors in December 1999, sending practitioners scampering for new quarters.
A recent announcement that the sagging economy has forced San Jose Medical Group physicians to close their Morgan Hill clinic has added urgency to the effort.
“You need to release the balance of funds for the foundation because we need quick action to keep primary-care physicians in the community,” said Bill Brown, a health foundation board member.
Brown, a former a Morgan Hill city councilman, was referring to some $120,000 the city has budgeted for medical services. The amount is what remains of $250,000 the council agreed to spend on a matching basis when the panel was created.
“It’s a question of how much you’re willing to pay. We need corporate or city money in the short term,” said Joe Mueller, a city planning commissioner who serves on the health foundation board.
Even early release of city money may not be enough without further financial help. Incentives to recruit new physicians or keep current ones from leaving the city can cost $100,000 to $200,000 per doctor.
The departure of San Jose Medical Group physicians was offset slightly by the reopening of the medical office building at former St. Louise Hospital and the arrival there of two new OB-GYN physicians.
The hospital, located at Highway 101 and Cochrane Road, has been the center of a storm since it closed. The Daughters of Charity religious order, which operated the facility, associated with Catholic Healthcare West to transfer services to CHW’s hospital in Gilroy. When the partners had a falling out, the religious order bought out of the arrangement. It now is part of the effort to restore medical service in Morgan Hill.
The city became embroiled in a controversy of its own when it refused to rezone the St. Louise property for San Jose Christian College, which bought the site from CHW to expand its campus. Although the matter is still being contested legally, a federal district court in March threw out the college’s lawsuit.
The Morgan Hill Community Health Foundation study scheduled to be released next month addresses such issues as the shortage of medical facilities, women’s care services, urgent care centers and primary-care physicians.
The panel is looking at a number of ways to reestablish medical services and fund the same.
Brown and foundation executive director John Ray asked council members for suggestions on how to weather the crisis. They promised to study Hedy Chang’s proposal for “on loan” service from physicians at St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy.
The regional hospital is prohibited by law from helping medical staff members financially.
Councilman Steve Tate appealed to the public for support in recruiting or retaining physicians.
“Unless you give us money, we can’t do anything. That’s just a fact of life,” Ray said.
