The Alameda
County Grand Jury blasted Alameda Health System, which runs Highland Hospital
and provides care for many of the county's poor and indigent, for inadequate
financial oversight and lack of communication with the county's Board of
Supervisors, leading to a roughly $220 million budget crisis.
The Alameda
County supervisors also came in for significant heat, as did Alameda Health
System's management, led during the period in question by longtime CEO Wright
Lassiter III, who left in December 2014 to take a top leadership role at the
$4.5 billion Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
The system
faced "very serious cash flow issues" beginning in July 2013 due to a
flawed transition to a new electronic records system and the acquisition of San
Leandro and Alameda hospitals, which the 2014-2015 grand jury report described
as "two struggling hospitals."
The civil
grand jury said the health care system's board was overly reliant on
recommendations by Lassiter's management staff (although it used no proper
names throughout to describe individuals) and was swayed by political leaders
regarding the acquisition of San Leandro Hospital, "without demanding the
due diligence it had earlier requested."
That
acquisition's cost to the county included a "three-year negative $92
million cash flow impact," the report said.
June 29, 2015
San
Francisco Business Times
By
Chris Rauber
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