Sutter Health appears to have a clear path to pursue its plan to shut San Leandro Hospital's emergency room and partner with the Alameda County Medical Center to repurpose the site as a rehabilitation facility.
The California Supremen Court's recently decided to ignore an appeal by Eden Township Healthcare District, which had sought to invalidate its 2008 decision to give Sutter control of San Leandro Hospital in exchange for various considerations, including a new hospital in Castro Valley.
"Sutter Health has honored its obligations under the 2008 agreements, including the construction of a 130 bed state of the art hospital at a cost of $320 million dollars," the health giant said after the Supreme Court action. "We expect the District to now honor its obligations under these agreements."
Employees at San Leandro Hospital are apprehensive. Rumors say layoff notices could be issued by May 1st, with changes to the hospital coming by August 1st.
Sutter spokeswoman Stacey Wells declined to specifically address those dates in a query from Patch.
"This court decision is just a week old and we really are evaluating all options at this moment," she said.
A San Leandro City Council Committee will meet Monday at 4:30 pm at the Sister Cities Gallery at City Hall to hear from officials of the Alameda County Medical Center on how their plans will affect the hospital and the community.
Exactly how quickly Sutter and county health officials move remains a matter of conjecture.
"Sutter has been playing its cards pretty close to the vest," former San Leandro Mayor Tony Santos told Patch.
Santos said that while he was in office he had worked behind the scenes to preserve some form of emergency care at San Leandro Hospital but that the effort had come to naught.
Meanwhile, the California Nurses' Association, which has been in prolonged contract negotiations with Sutter, announced Friday that it would at San Leandro Hospital and other Sutter sites in the region.
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