The El Camino Hospital Board voted unanimously Wednesday night to buy nearly 16 acres of land in South San Jose, with the goal of building a third hospital facility.
At the Jan. 13 board meeting, hospital staff announced the plans to buy up two undeveloped parcels of land in South San Jose on Santa Teresa Boulevard between San Ignacio Avenue and Great Oaks Boulevard. The hospital will acquire the land at a cost not to exceed $24.1 million, according to a staff report.
Ken King, the hospitals' chief administrative services officer, said it's been an "exhaustive" search to find new land for the hospital to expand, and that there are few options left for undeveloped land in the Bay Area. Between the Mountain View and Los Gatos campuses, King said a third location will allow El Camino Hospital to serve a greater number of patients who reside far from the existing facilities.
Expansion into San Jose is an important step in handling a growing demand for the hospital's services, King told the board. Population growth estimates show San Jose's population is expected to explode over the next thirty years, increasing by 41 percent by 2040, and many patients who come to El Camino Hospital already travel long distances from the southern region of the county.
"With the growth that's projected in the county, which is largely going to increase in the South Bay, there's opportunities in the future where we can provide services in the broader region," King said.
Maintaining the financial health of the small community hospital like El Camino Hospital requires attracting as many patients as possible to stay solvent, according to Iftikhar Hussain, the hospital's chief financial officer. Hussain said the hospital's financial outlook depends on patients who live outside of the El Camino Healthcare District, which is roughly bounded by Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. The Los Gatos hospital has proved profitable so far and has helped El Camino Hospital's bottom line. Expanding deep into the South Bay is expected to do the same, he said.
The decision marks El Camino's second major expansion, following the acquisition of a hospital facility in Los Gatos in 2009. At the time, some residents voiced opposition as the nonprofit hospital spent $45 million to expand outside of the boundaries of the taxpayer-funded El Camino Healthcare District.
Board members were largely supportive of the expansion plans and the land acquisition brokered between the hospital and the private land owner, who has opted to keep roughly half of the 33 acres of undeveloped land for future development.
Hospital CEO Tomi Ryba said the hospital was moving in the right direction with the addition of a new hospital campus, and that the founders of the El Camino Healthcare District never intended to restrict the hospital's services to residents within the district boundaries. She said increasing the scale of the hospital's operations around the Bay Area will also help to improve services in Mountain View, and draw the "right kind of talent" that patients deserve.
Board member David Reeder said the the hospital acted within state law when it first expanded back in 2009, and that the quality of care and the financial stability of El Camino Hospital has only improved since then.
"The facility in Los Gatos has been a very positive influence, both in the financial (health) and the quality that we've provided to residents in the district," Reeder said. "We'll continue to influence in a positive way both our financial performance, but more important, the quality of care that we provide to our patients."
Reeder stressed that the hospital will not be using any taxpayer funds from the El Camino Healthcare District for the purchase of the property, nor will the funds ever be used to pay for operations at the San Jose campus.
Board member Dennis Chiu said it may be counter-intuitive to think that increasing patient volume several miles south of Mountain View will equate to better quality of care here. But having a greater patient base will allow the hospital to provide more specialties and a broader range of services that would otherwise not be financial feasible, he said.
"Hospital after hospital, study after study, has proven that," Chiu said.
Comments
Sylvan Park
on Jan 14, 2016 at 2:32 pm
on Jan 14, 2016 at 2:32 pm
Why is the El Camino Hospital District buying land in San Jose, we are taxed in this area and it seems wrong to build and operated hospitals outside the district area. They seem to be out of control, high pay for the management and now a second hospital planned outside of the area, Los Gatos was the first and should be sold.
Rex Manor
on Jan 14, 2016 at 8:30 pm
on Jan 14, 2016 at 8:30 pm
I'm new to the area, but why are we even being taxed for the hospital? Was the tax meant to be something to help the hospital get started? How much longer do we have to pay this tax? Isn't the hospital self-sufficient by now and able to survive off what it charges for services? I think it's strange that taxpayers are still supporting the hospital. I'd rather give my tax dollars to the MV public schools. I think they need the money more.
Registered user
Cuernavaca
on Jan 14, 2016 at 9:34 pm
Registered user
on Jan 14, 2016 at 9:34 pm
Fascinating--a profitable corporation continues to require public support while it expands to unrelated areas! If profitable enough to buy millions of dollars worth of other properties, shouldn't it be paying back the taxpayers that made its first investment? One of the worst (and universal) motivations among humans is that more is always better. Me first, me first, us first, us first. Just plain stupid.
another community
on Jan 15, 2016 at 5:16 am
on Jan 15, 2016 at 5:16 am
Maybe El Camino Hospital plans to use this new site to offer services that are currently unavailable in this County? As of today, there are zero hospital beds for anyone under 18 who needs to be hospitalized for any mental health reason in SCC despite this being the number one reason for hospitalization of youth across California (according to Stanford's KidsData site). As we have seen with the murder in our jail and the teen suicides, this zero treatment situation has had devasting results in our community. El Camino Hospital has shown a commitment to improving behavioral health for youth through its Aspire program and fundraising through its Fulfilling the Promise campaign. I hope that this purchase means that El Camino is considering offering the youth inpatient mental health services our county so desperately needs.
another community
on Jan 15, 2016 at 9:35 am
on Jan 15, 2016 at 9:35 am
A new hospital facility with fewer licensed beds was constructed in Mt.View and open in 2009. Retrofitting the original tower was determined to be financially and logistically impractical, yet the tower remains intact. Rather than spending $24 million on acquiring new land, couldn't it be spent on expanding the existing Mt.View site? Long term community members who HAVE been paying taxes to support this hospital district experience long wait times in the Emergency Department because there are no beds available to immediately treat them; yet patients from outlying areas are transported by ambulance and get seen immediately. The psychiatric patients are spending more time the the ED because there are no beds for their special needs. It takes many years for a new facility to be operational.The problem is URGENT and needs resolution now.
Blossom Valley
on Jan 15, 2016 at 9:45 am
on Jan 15, 2016 at 9:45 am
Great!!! People don't have to drive all the way to Mountain View to go to the hospital.
Old Mountain View
on Jan 15, 2016 at 3:35 pm
on Jan 15, 2016 at 3:35 pm
We are taxed to support the hospital district not the hospital. They are two separate entities.
The hospital is purchasing the property and expanding access. Not the district.
People are not even reading the article. Expanding access to and for the community will only strengthen El Camino Hospital as an already valuable asset to Mountain View and all communities it serves.
Blossom Valley
on Jan 15, 2016 at 4:54 pm
on Jan 15, 2016 at 4:54 pm
Why do we continue to allow building without the infrastructure to support additional traffic. Shouldn't taxes payers and residence have some say before conglomerations are allowed to build? First Costco ad now this!!!
another community
on Jan 15, 2016 at 10:55 pm
on Jan 15, 2016 at 10:55 pm
What can we do to repeal the parcel tax?
another community
on Jan 16, 2016 at 1:52 pm
on Jan 16, 2016 at 1:52 pm
I live within a mile of this purchased site, and wonder about the viability of building a new hospital within a couple of miles of one of the larger Kaiser hospitals in Northern California which currently has offices across the street from these lots.
Rex Manor
on Jan 22, 2016 at 6:18 pm
on Jan 22, 2016 at 6:18 pm
Not everyone goes to Kaiser...would rather have an organization with a great community reputation rather than another Kaiser. I was born at old El Camino Hospital and still live in Mountain View, I support their expansion and believe that they will be a great asset for the residents in and around the purchased land. It could have been worse, at least the land wasn't purchased by Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google.