By LESTER CHANG
The board members of Camino Healthcare Corp., El Camino Hospital District and Camino Medical Group recently signed an agreement that allows the hospital district to resume management of the hospital.
Camino Medical Group, an organization of doctors that worked with Camino Healthcare to try to implement medical services more efficiently, will become an independent operation.
The transfer of the management responsibilities took place Dec. 31, voiding suits and countersuits involving the three parties, hospital district officials said.
The hospital board filed lawsuits to void a management agreement with Camino Healthcare after the company reported losses of $17 million during fiscal year 1995, said Victoria Emmons, vice president of marketing and community relations for the hospital district.
"People are excited about moving forward and getting the hospital back on its feet," she said.
Ending four years of private management also opens the way for the public to begin making comments on the future direction of the hospital.
Dr. Paul Hoar, board president of the hospital district, said the board was "incredibly pleased that the hospital will be returned to the public."
Because the hospital was run by a private group, the public was not allowed to attend meetings held by Camino Healthcare.
In the early 1990s, the hospital district sought to provide more efficient medical services and to reduce the cost of providing such services, Emmons said.
In 1992, the hospital board voted to create "an integrated delivery system" as a way to reach that goal, and took on Camino Healthcare, consisting of up to 250 doctors, to implement it.
The effort was unsuccessful, apparently partly because of operational and management styles that didn't work, hospital officials have said.
The hospital district board filed a lawsuit against the management group, claiming the agreement with Camino Healthcare should be voided owing to a conflict of interest.
The lawsuit said Richard Pettingill, the chief operating officer of the hospital, recommended the transfer of management responsibilities, and later became the chief operating officer for Camino Healthcare.
The agreement among the three entities was subsequently reached Dec. 31.
On Jan. 2, the National Labor Relations Board issued a citation against Camino Healthcare for labor practice violations tied to contract negotiations with the Professional Resource for Nurses, a union representing nurses at the hospital.
Professional Resource lodged the complaint on July 15, 1996, after Camino Healthcare negotiators walked away from the bargaining table, said Patricia Briggs, president of the nursing group, in a news release.
Briggs wasn't available for comment, but she noted in the press release that she is prepared to work with the district hospital board to forge a new contract.
The five-member board consists of Hoar, Dr. Edward Baugh, Dr. Dominick Curatola, Dianna Adair and Mark O' Connor.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 15, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.