Assembly OKs SB 418, PV Healthcare District • County Pledges $5 Million to Buy Watsonville Hospital

COMMUNITY NEWS

Assembly OKs SB 418, PV Healthcare District

State Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) is authoring urgency legislation, Senate Bill 418, to preserve access to health care for Pajaro Valley residents by forming a health care district and allowing the return to public ownership of Watsonville Community Hospital. His fact sheet on the legislation says the current operator could close 106-bed hospital as soon as March 2022.

Laird said this is urgency legislation “to preserve the public peace, health, or safety” under Article IV of the California Constitution.

On Jan. 27, the Assembly passed SB 418 62-0.

SB 418 would form a health care district establishing public oversight should the Pajaro Valley Healthcare District Project be successful in its attempts to acquire the hospital from current ownership.

Leaders in the healthcare district project are the County of Santa Cruz, the City of Watsonville, the Community Health Trust of the Pajaro Valley and Salud Para La Gente.

The nonprofit aims to facilitate a sale through the bankruptcy process and avoid closure.

After 21 years of ownership changes and 20 changes in administration, Watsonville Community Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December.

Public and private funding for the acquisition of Watsonville Community Hospital is being sought separately.

Currently, the hospital is open and offers a full range of medical services. However, employees and local residents are worried, not knowing the outcome of bankruptcy.

Co-authors of SB 418 include Assemblymembers Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) and Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley), and Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) whose constituents receive services at Watsonville Community Hospital.

“The successful passage of SB 418 will ensure the continued provision of vital services to the community and protect the jobs of those who work tirelessly to keep Pajaro Valley residents and their loved ones healthy,” said Laird. “It is our responsibility as a state to ensure no person, parent, or child is left without access to care.”

Watsonville Community Hospital serves an area with disproportionately low household income and access to quality housing, transportation and health care, according to the California Healthy Places Index. A look at the hospital’s gross revenue: 43% comes from the state MediCal program, and 30% from the federal Medicare program for the elderly and disabled. Government pays less than the cost of service. The only other full-service hosJohn Laird pital with an emergency department is Dignity Health Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. There is no emergency room at Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center in Santa Cruz. Mimi Hall, board member of Pajaro Valley Healthcare District, said, “Given the hospital’s bankruptcy status, this legislation is the only pathway to preserving access to health care, creating accountability and addressing glaring health disparities for the people of the Pajaro Valley. We are grateful to our entire delegation for the urgent and focused attention they brought to this matter, and we look forward to seeing this bill become law in the nottoo-distant future.” If adopted, SB 418 provides the Board of Directors of the Pajaro Valley Health Care District five years to divide the district into zones representative of the community. Those zones would be subject to local elections. Laird said, “I thank our regional leaders who remain active partners in this effort to protect and expand health care access for the residents of Pajaro Valley and surrounding communities,” said Laird. n

County Pledges $5 Million to Buy Watsonville Hospital

On Jan. 25, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors agreed unanimously to provide $5 million toward purchase and operation of Watsonville Community Hospital by the Pajaro Valley Healthcare District Project.

The funding is in addition to $500,000 the board previously provided to the new nonprofit.

The $5 million is contingent on the nonprofit’s successful bid for the hospital, which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization through bankruptcy in December. The deadline to file a bid is Feb. 14.

HealthCare Appraisers, founded in 2000, saw more distressed hospital transactions in 2016 through 2018, before Covid-19 when edicts to limit more profitable elective surgery hurt the bottom line for many. Often distressed hospitals have little to no earnings, making it difficult for appraisers to evaluate the hospital’s worth.

To remain in operation, Healthcare Appraisers recommends optimizing staffing, leveraging better payor rates and investing in new service lines. •••

Does Watsonville Community Hospital owe your business money?

The deadline to file that claim with documentation is 4 p.m. April 4. You can do so online at https://cases.stretto. com/WatsonvilleHospital/file-a-claim/

In 2019, the 106-bed hospital, in financial difficulty, sold the property at 75 Nielson Road, Watsonville, to Medical Properties Trust, based in Atlanta, for $40 million, and has been leasing it but payments have been a struggle.

Stretto is the debtors’ claims and noticing agent.

Hearings will be held by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Jose often via Zoom. Dates are:

Feb. 7 at 4 p.m. Deadline to object to the proposed sale of the hospital operations

Feb. 14 at 4 p.m. Deadline to file a bid to buy the hospital operations

Feb. 17 at 10 a.m. Auction of hospital assets

Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. Deadline to object to the sale motion

Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. Sale hearing n

To reach Stretto, call 1-877-4764390 or email https://cases.stretto.com/ WatsonvilleHospital

“Navient” from page 21

Bonta encourages all Californians working in the government or non-profit sectors to review the PSLF website to determine whether they might qualify for loan forgiveness. Borrowers seeking loan

“State Budget” from page 22

Wildfire Resilience

For wildfire protection, the budget proposes significant investments in wildfire and forest resilience.

Included in the funding is nearly $3 billion forgiveness under the Department of Education’s recent changes must take action by Oct. 31, 2022.

Bonta joined the attorneys general of 37 states — Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington,

toward forest thinning, prescribed burns, local fuel break investments, community hardening (including improved defensible space), reforestation and vocational training to train, develop, and certify forestry professionals and expand the workforce available for forest health and fuels reduction.

This is just an outline of the significant number of budget proposals and how they may impact our area. At this point, they are just proposals and still need adoption by the Legislature.

If you would like to see more information, you can visit the state’s budget site at http://ebudget.ca.gov West Virginia, and Wisconsin — in the settlement. Read the settlement at https:// tinyurl.com/navient-settlement. n •••

Share your Navient student loan experience with Times editor Jondi Gumz at 831-688-7549 x17.

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As always, I appreciate any feedback you may have on this (or any other County issue). I’m maintaining regular updates on social media at www.facebook.com/ supervisorfriend and you can always call me at 454-2200.