This debt has led AHS management to consistently underfund its hospitals and clinics, endangering workers and patients at the same time. A 2015 report by the Alameda County Civil Grand Jury found that much of the health system’s dire financial situation could be attributed to mismanagement by AHS executives and trustees. AHS has been in debt to Alameda County for nearly two decades and as of 2018 still owed over $64 million. This means AHS must ask the county for loans to cover shortfalls.Īnd ask it has. AHS is ineligible to receive money from the county’s general fund, and because its buildings and lands are still owned by the county, it does not have the collateral needed to secure private bank loans. Things have not worked out that way: making AHS an independent entity has led to massive dysfunction. It is run by a board of trustees appointed by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.Īccording to the 1996 California State Assembly bill which removed AHS from county control, making the health system independent was supposed to “improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and economy of the community health services provided at the medical center.”
As of 1998, AHS is formally independent of the county. The Alameda Health System (AHS formerly Alameda County Medical Center) is the public health system for the county, although it is no longer directly run by the county. Highland Hospital is one of five hospitals in the Alameda Health System, which also includes four primary care clinics. The only way to prevent catastrophe is with massive emergency funding from the county and the state - along with taking the quasi-privatized public health system back under public control. Thousands or even tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths could result, as staff and supply shortages make it impossible to contain the infection and people with treatable conditions go without adequate care. With Bay Area coronavirus cases spiking, already overstretched public hospitals like Highland will be pushed past the breaking point. This has led to dangerous conditions for workers and patients alike. Highland and the other county hospitals have experienced years of extreme underfunding and mismanagement. These hospitals are not-for-profit and publicly funded, and they primarily service working-class patients of color.
These are everyday, pre-pandemic conditions at Highland Hospital, one of Alameda County’s public hospitals. You might think that these conditions are the predictable result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been straining hospital capacity all over the world. The hospital also suffers from a lack of ventilators, hand sanitizer, gowns, booties, and HEPA filters, and severe understaffing. Workers have to bring soap from home because the hospital is short on that, too. There aren’t enough face masks, either, so in many departments workers are instructed to use a single face mask per 12 hour shift. Highland Hospital in Oakland does not have enough virus-killing disinfecting wipes to go around, so management has asked housekeepers to wipe down beds with reusable cloth washcloths.
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