City to review social impact
of hospital merger

From the Mayor's Office of Communications

October 6, 2005

Mayor Gavin Newsom released a statement Wednesday regarding the recently signed Affiliation Agreement between California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) and St. Luke's Hospital. This agreement -- which merges the two medical centers -- was recently approved by the Board of Directors of each facility.

"Everyone in the Mission district -- regardless of their income -- deserves quality health care. As we move toward universal health care coverage for all San Franciscans, we must first and foremost protect the safety net for the poor in the Mission and throughout our city. The affiliation agreement recently signed between CPMC and St. Luke's appears to impact this health care safety net, so I believe careful study of the agreement is necessary.

"Along those lines, I have asked our Department of Public Health to review the agreement in detail to determine its public health impacts."

This Affiliation Agreement formalizes the relationship between the two medical centers and calls for certain actions to be taken regarding the St. Luke's facility. St Luke's has traditionally provided health care for working class and working poor San Franciscans, including a high portion of charity care.

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