South San Francisco, CA March 5, 2020 Submitted by SMC Supervisor David Canepa
Full Board of Supervisors to conduct study session on Seton Medical Center
Dear friends,
The full Board of Supervisors will convene a special study session 6 p.m., Friday, March 6, at Daly City Hall to discuss Seton Medical Center’s unique patient community, its unique services, the cultural competence of its diverse staff and the important role Seton has played in ensuring overall access and medical care coverage in San Mateo County.
We are conducting the study session because negotiations have stalled in bankruptcy court between Verity Health, which owns Seton and Seton Coastside in Moss Beach, KPC Health and other potential buyers. KPC made a bid of $610 million to buy four former Daughters of Charity hospitals but was rejected by Verity, whose creditors include billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner in part of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Times.
The deal was supposed to close Dec. 5, 2019 but now we are approaching March.
Without Seton there would be a vast health care desert in northern San Mateo County and southeast San Francisco, just ask the doctors who work there.
Seton serves primarily patients with zip codes in Daly City, the county’s largest city and most diverse. Its patients are comprised of people of color on the elderly side who are mostly insured by Medicare or Medi-Cal. These are my constituents and their lives are being put at risk by squabbling billionaires.
Since 2013, San Mateo County has granted $25 million in patient care to Seton and pledged an additional $15 million toward seismic upgrades. The Health Plan of San Mateo, which I chaired at the time, also loaned Seton an additional $20 million in 2017 for patient care.
My office has worked tirelessly to ensure north county residents receive the quality health care they deserve and that Seton’s doctors, nurses and staff of 1,200 continue to provide that care.
Please join us at the study session so that your voices are heard loud and clear. If you have questions, please contact Ann Keighran by phone at (650) 599-1007 or by email at akeighran@smcgov.org.
In friendship,
Seton has its problems but if it closes what hospital will handle the 30,000 ER visits they have every year? If you rely on Kaiser SSF keeping Seton open is in your self interest. Imagine what the ER at Kaiser SSF would be like with almost double the patients! Supervisor Pine was the only one to vote against helping to keep Seton open. Supposedly he represents South City.
Let your Supervisors know your thoughts.
Dave Pine ; Warren Slocum ; David Canepa ; Carole Groom ; Don Horsley
pray you don’t need them someday
Close the damn things. Quality is terrible.
slap a lien on the property