Trauma center woes near end?

Board of Supervisors to vote on additional staffing, funding for San Joaquin General Hospital Trauma Center

The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors will be voting for the approval of eight new positions to the San Joaquin General Hospital Trauma Program and an increase in the 2016-2017 hospital budget totaling $549,069 at the next board meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13. A fourfifths vote is required for approval of the budget increase.

These recommendations are the result of hiring a new trauma medical director, Dr. Frank Kennedy, and his assessment of the current situation with the trauma center, said Monica Nino, San Joaquin County Administrator.

If approved as of Dec. 26, there would be two full-time trauma nurse clinicians, four full-time resource nurses for the intensive care unit and two full-time physical therapists to provide services to inpatients.

County staff estimated that the salary and benefits for the eight positions would amount to a total of $1,098,138. The cost for the remainder of the 2016-2017 year is $549,069, which is what the board must approve to staff those positions immediately.

The county is expecting additional revenue from the Public Hospital Redesign Incentive in Medi-Cal (PRIME) greater than the amount budgeted for the new staff this year, which would offset the cost and not affect the General Fund.

A proposed enterprise fund for the San Joaquin General Hospital for the 2017-2018 year is also expected to include the ongoing staff costs.

The new staff is intended to address service issues found which threatened the county hospital’s designation as a Level III trauma center after a September audit by the San Joaquin Emergency Medical Services Agency.

Since those findings, the trauma center was forced to temporarily reduce its coverage area while it worked on a correction plan. That area has been expanded as of Nov. 5

However, adult trauma patients north of Eight Mile Road, in the Lodi area, are still being transported to Kaiser Medical Center South Sacramento or the next closest trauma center.

Jamie Neilson, EMS trauma coordinator, said that EMS would be meeting with the hospital in the near future to work on opening the center fully by the earlier part of 2017.

Maintaining the Level 3 designation has been a priority for the county, Nino said.

“It’s definitely our goal to get back to 100 percent,” she said.