By KATHERINE PETERSON
The oversight of El Camino Hospital will be returned to a district board after more than three years under control of Camino Healthcare.
The transfer, slated to take place Oct. 1, will most likely be pushed back to give attorneys time to draft a final agreement, said Lynn Briody, chairwoman of Camino Healthcare's board of directors.
"The devil is in the details. The terms indicating Oct. 1 as the transfer date were drawn up in July but not acted upon until August, so several weeks were lost," Briody said.
A final agreement must be drafted by attorneys for Camino Healthcare, Camino Medical Group and the El Camino Hospital District Board before the transfer can officially take place, she added.
In addition to transferring hospital control to the district board, Camino Medical Group, a group of 150 physicians allied with Camino Healthcare for the past two years, will become an independent entity.
El Camino Hospital, worth about $250 million including cash assets, was run by the district board until 1992, when the board voted to transfer control to Camino Healthcare, a private, non-profit corporation.
While it won't be easy for Camino Healthcare to relinquish control of the hospital to the district board, the administration says it wants to do what is best for the hospital.
"No one likes to go and see a dream that wasn't able to be fulfilled," Briody said. "My board has had many ideas and devoted a lot of hours for the past four years. Given the fact that [Camino Medical Group] no longer wishes to be part of the system and the district board wants to be responsible for the hospital, we wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't in the hospital's best interest."
Camino Healthcare's board of directors will work in a reduced form for a year or so during the transition period, Briody said.
"Once the deal is closed on this transaction, it's the district board and its people who will run the hospital," she said.
The El Camino Hospital District Board held an open meeting Sept. 5 to discuss the proposal with the public.
"We have not received the final document that would officially transfer things over. Nothing is official as far as handing over the keys," said boardmember Mark O'Connor. He expressed concern that there may be some eleventh-hour hitches in the deal.
"I'm optimistic that the transfer will go forward. I'm just not sure when," he said. "I think the public's confidence in the previous leadership is at an all-time low. Our biggest job will be to restore that confidence, which will take time, actions and performance."
Patricia Briggs, president and chief negotiator for a union whose nurses work at the hospital and affiliated clinics, also supports the redestricting effort.
"To show our support for the district board and the redistricting of El Camino Hospital, PRN has suspended our picketing," she said. However, Professional Resource for Nurses' labor dispute with Camino Healthcare continues.
She is hopeful that PRN and the district board will be able to reach a contract after the transfer occurs.
In related news, PRN has also endorsed Dr. Paul Hoar, Dr. Dominick Curatola and Peter Pollock, three members who will run for re-election to the district board in November.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, September 11, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.