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Published on 09/08/1999 All articles from this issue

Hospital district to outline challenges

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By Leslie K. Martin / Town Crier Staff Writer

The El Camino Hospital District fiscal year budget for 1999-2000 and a review of current operations will be presented at tonight's meeting.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the back of the hospital cafeteria, 2500 Grant Road, Mountain View.

Acting Chief Operating Officer Owen Aurelio said the budget will reflect the many challenges facing the hospital 2000. These challenges include maintaining the current physician base, ongoing nursing recruitment, inflationary pressures, Y2K issues, and a costly seismic retrofit.

The budget also will include planning and marketing new revenue enhancement programs. Aurelio said he doesn't expect the budget to project positive revenues in the year 2000.

"I think there's been a false perception in the community that hospitals generally make a lot of profit," said Judy Twitchell, chief of media relations for the hospital.

Twitchell said the public isn't always aware of the continuing decline in insurance payments per patient, and the ongoing and large expense of building maintenance, updating equipment, and attracting new employees, among other budget issues.

She said the budget is one tool to help administrators maintain the current environment and chart a course to forecast and meet new challenges.

Aurelio said the hospital has experienced a renaissance in the past two years.

Recent changes include positive revenues, an infrastructure assessment, and a return to appropriate staffing levels and salaries.

As a society within the Silicon Valley society, the hospital mirrors the same economic and population factors, Aurelio said, and the administrative challenge is to grow and develop while maintaining financial stability. "We're not here to be a second rate hospital," he said.