February 20,2024
City Council
DATE: February 20, 2024
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Council Member Cesar Zepeda
Subject:
Regional Hospital Update Presentation for Alta Bates
Summit Medical Center
FINANCIAL IMPACT: No financial impact related to the item at this time.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
None
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
City of Berkeley and Berkeley Health Department to
present on the history and status of Berkeley’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
RECEIVE a presentation from Sophie Hanh of City of
Berkeley and Berkeley Health Department on the
regional impacts of a hospital closure – Councilmember
Cesar Zepeda (510-620-6593).
DISCUSSION:
Sutter Health has proposed to close Alta Bates Campus in Berkeley, California, by 2030. Alta Bates Hospital serves the City of Berkeley and the entire East Bay with 347 beds, 22 Emergency Department treatment stations, about 50,000 Emergency Department (ED) patients, and over 5,000 births in 2017.
In 2016, the hospital billed almost 2 billion dollars in patient revenue. Sutter Health has determined that state-mandated earthquake safety upgrades would be too costly to keep the major functions of the hospital open. Sutter Health stated in 2016 that they AGENDA
REPORT
February 20,2024
plan to relocate most inpatient care and emergency services from the Alta Bates Campus site in Berkeley to an expanded Summit Medical Campus in Oakland, approximately three miles from the Berkeley campus.
Alta Bates Campus also has one of the highest volume emergency departments (ED) in the East Bay. The ED has experienced a sharp increase in patients from West Contra Costa County, many of whom were likely served by Doctors Medical Center (DMC) in San Pablo, which closed in 2015. In 2017, the Alta Bates Campus ED was operating at about 6,000 visits above the capacity recommended by the American College of Emergency Physicians. Research from across California and the United States has found that hospital closures in urban areas can displace patients, particularly those already vulnerable, from familiar and usual sources of care, and overburden the hospitals that remain open. More specifically, ED closures can adversely impact regional morbidity and mortality.
Overall, the closing of Alta Bates Campus will have potentially significant adverse health impacts related to birthing/obstetrics; ED care for the elderly, uninsured, homeless and people of color; private vehicle travel times for certain areas of the East Bay, particularly Western Contra Costa County; disaster response capacity; and some UC Berkeley student health care needs. We also found that the closing of the Alta Bates campus will adversely impact employment for low-wage workers, reduce spending in the local economy and potentially reduce community-based health promotion investments.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
None