Dignity Health to manage San Joaquin General Hospital under new $4.5M county deal

Ben Irwin, The Record
·3 min read
San Joaquin General Hospital is a "designated public hospital" where many patients are low-income or use MediCal. The public hospital established in 1857 will now be managed by Dignity Health.
San Joaquin General Hospital is a "designated public hospital" where many patients are low-income or use MediCal. The public hospital established in 1857 will now be managed by Dignity Health.

It’s official: Dignity Health will take a management role at San Joaquin General Hospital.

County supervisors announced May 3 an 18-month deal with Dignity Health — the nonprofit health care operator formerly known as Catholic Healthcare West — to provide management services at San Joaquin County’s public hospital for an estimated $4.5 million. The management services agreement has a 10-year option. Dignity Health is expected to begin management July 1.

Established in 1857, San Joaquin General is the region’s oldest hospital and has been struggling financially for more than a decade. Board of Supervisors Chair Chuck Winn said the pandemic underscored the hospital’s vulnerability.

March 2022: San Joaquin General reports $14.8M operating loss

“A management relationship with Dignity Health would help San Joaquin General Hospital better meet its obligations financially, provide continued quality of health care, conduct its operations more efficiently and expand services for its residents,” Winn said in a statement. “This will help ensure San Joaquin County residents can access essential services well into the future.”

Among the initial services from Dignity Health to improve the financial picture at San Joaquin General is the affiliation with a Group Purchasing Organization, which should allow the hospital to buy at the best possible supply pricing and monitoring of nearly all supplies purchased.

San Joaquin General is a level-two trauma center and is the first stop for many of the county’s gunshot victims. It’s also the home of a graduate education program that seeks to encourage graduates to continue to stay and serve San Joaquin County residents. The Dignity Health deal aims to improve quality of health care including the hospital’s specialty clinics for surgery, pediatrics, occupational health and dialysis.

Chief Executive Officer David Culberson was selected by County Supervisors to serve as CEO in 2011. He had been leading the hospital under previous management, The Camden Group, since 2007.
Chief Executive Officer David Culberson was selected by County Supervisors to serve as CEO in 2011. He had been leading the hospital under previous management, The Camden Group, since 2007.

Under the new agreement, Dignity Health can appoint a new CEO at San Joaquin General Hospital upon approval by the Board of Supervisors, which will still serve as the governing body of the public hospital. David Culberson has served as CEO at San Joaquin General since 2007.

County documents state an upside to the partnership with Dignity Health is protecting taxpayers from the future risk of uncertain or open-ended subsidies for its health system. In 2010, during the throes of the financial crisis, the Board of Supervisors directed county administrators to draft options for a bond measure, a mechanism for voters to tax themselves to help finance operations at the struggling San Joaquin General Hospital. The bond measure never materialized and the hospital was able to recover, but by 2015 the hospital’s financial health was again declining.

San Joaquin General remains a “designated public hospital” under the new agreement, meaning a large portion of its patients are low-income or use MediCal. Culberson previously said the designation allows the hospital to receive about 25% of its more than $400 million budget.

In December 2021 St. Joseph's Medical Center announced plans for a sweeping expansion that will include a new emergency department and more than 140 additional hospital beds.
In December 2021 St. Joseph's Medical Center announced plans for a sweeping expansion that will include a new emergency department and more than 140 additional hospital beds.

Dignity Health, a subsidiary of CommonSpirit Health, also manages St. Joseph's Medical Center in Stockton. Employees at both hospitals are members of the Service Employees International Union and the California Nurses Association. Under the new agreement, employees at San Joaquin General will see no change in their compensation or benefits.

St. Joseph's: Expansion with new emergency department 140 added beds

Record reporter Ben Irwin covers Stockton and San Joaquin County government. He can be reached at birwin@recordnet.com or on Twitter @B1rwin. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Dignity Health deal aims to boost care at San Joaquin General Hospital