Sacramento, Calif.-Area Medical Center Continues to Fight with Union. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Lisa Rapaport, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Nov. 1--With a contract set to expire at midnight Saturday, Sutter Roseville Medical Center remains at odds with the union representing its service and technical workers over wages and health benefits.

The Service Employees International Union Local 250 represents roughly 450 employees at Sutter Roseville who hold positions ranging from food service jobs to X-ray lab technicians.

Sutter and union officials were at the table Thursday for their fifth day of talks since bargaining started Oct. 18. Four more sessions are scheduled through Nov. 13, and both sides are expected to abide by the current contract while talks continue. Union members in a vote last week authorized SEIU to serve Sutter with a strike notice if talks fail.

To a large extent, the talks at Sutter turn on wage and benefit gains the union has already achieved at area hospitals owned by Kaiser Permanente and Mercy Healthcare Sacramento.

'The industry standard for wages and benefits in Sacramento has changed, and Sutter is not keeping up with the times,' said John Borsos, SEIU hospital division director.

Union gains at other hospitals stem from contracts negotiated after the 3-year-old Sutter pact took effect in 1999. Sutter Roseville wages lag behind local Kaiser and Mercy hospitals, but Kaiser's pact is only 2 years old and wages at recently organized Mercy facilities do not take effect until May 1, 2003.

Licensed vocational nurses, for example, earn starting wages of $15.17 an hour at Sutter Roseville, more than $2 per hour less than they would make at Kaiser or Mercy hospitals, which pay $17.78 and $17.52, respectively.

'We do look at the local market,' said Barbara Nelson, chief nursing executive for Sutter Roseville. 'It certainly influences the package we put on the table, but it can't be the sole driver.'

Sutter has proposed several perks designed to recruit and retain staff, including tuition reimbursement and night shift bonus pay, that have yet to be accepted by the union, Nelson said.

Still, union leaders said Sutter's best offer to date fell short on bigger ticket items like staffing levels and health-care benefits.

Kaiser and Mercy give workers input in staffing and patient care, with binding abitration to resolve labor disputes, said the SEIU. While Sutter does have committees for staff and management to discuss these issues, that contract spells out no process for resolving disagreements.

Moreover, hospitals near Sutter Roseville, including Kaiser Roseville Medical Center and Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael, offer employer-paid health benefits for workers, their spouses, and dependents. Sutter pays 100 percent of premiums for employees' health, dental and vision coverage and 90 percent of premiums for workers' family members.

For Cheryl Stizzo, a unit secretary in the emergency department, fully paid family health coverage is a crucial item. Stizzo, a single mother of two, makes $13.99 an hour, an income level that qualifies her for government subsidized housing and free school lunches for her daughters.

Both girls need braces this year, and Stizzo wants Sutter to pick up more of the cost.

'I like working here,' Stizzo said, 'but it's a question of whether there is another hospital that will pay better and have better benefits that make it easier for me to raise my girls.'

Sutter gave workers an across-the-board 3 percent wage hike in July, responding to changes in the local health-care market and cost-of-living increases in Roseville.

The hospital singled out nuclear medicine technicians for a 26 percent raise, reflecting a shortage of workers with the skills to do that job, a move that didn't sit well with workers in other diagnostic imaging labs, said Bruce Allen, a radiologic technician.

'We have a hard time recruiting and retaining employees,' Allen said. 'Sutter is one of the best hospitals in town, and they should pay everybody the best.'

Sutter Roseville, like every other area hospital, has had a hard time recruiting skilled workers as demand for health-care services has increased. Still, the hospital's retention rate is consistently about 86 percent for service and technical workers, said Sutter's Nelson.

To see more of The Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sacbee.com

Striking Janitors in Sacramento, Calif., Find Support from Fund, Politician. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jun. 19--The nation's largest pension fund and a state assemblyman have thrown their support behind Sacramento's striking janitors.

Staffers at Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg's district office packed boxes and moved out of their downtown building Wednesday in a show of solidarity with the janitors picketing outside on the second day of the strike.

'It's a matter of principal,' said Susan McKee, the district director for Steinberg, D-Sacramento. 'We can't cross a picket line.'

The union also recruited the $138 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System to use its financial clout to pressure major building owners to settle the dispute.

'We have a responsible contractors policy which addresses the issue of fair wages and family health benefits,' said CalPERS board president Sean Harrigan, himself a union official. 'People at work ought to have insurance. The fact that these (building maintenance) contractors aren't providing their employees and families with coverage really does infringe the requirements of our responsible contractor's policy. We will encourage them to comply with the policy.'

Members of the Service Employees International Union, Local 1877, which represents about 1,100 janitors in the Sacramento area, authorized a strike Friday. The vote came after the janitors rejected a contract offer from building maintenance companies that they said did not significantly increase their $7 hourly wage or provide affordable family health care benefits.

The building maintenance contractors' negotiator described the offer as 'fair.' It provided a 20-cent-an-hour increase each year for the next four, an increase of 45 cents in year five and family health benefits for any any employee with five or more years of service.

The union, which picketed 40 downtown buildings on Tuesday, added 40 mostly suburban buildings to the strike Wednesday.

CalPERS has a major investment partnerships with Jones Lange LaSalle and CB Richard Ellis -- two of the largest building owners impacted by the strike. CB Richard Ellis runs a $500 million real estate fund for CalPERS while Jones Lange manages a $1.5 billion industrial real estate portfolio.

Union leaders asked CalPERS officials to participate in meetings with building owners and for the board members to take an active role in the bargaining process.

'We'll help where we can,' said Harrigan, a vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. 'I need to dig into it a little bit more and find out how we can be helpful.'

Meanwhile, callers to the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency heard a recorded phone message that said, 'Due to a labor strike that has affected our building we have relocated.' Department officials could not be reached for comment.

Assemblyman Steinberg, who pays $3,400 a month rent for his district office, said that he would consider giving notice to the building owner if the strike is not resolved.

'We love our district offices,' he said. 'It's on the ground floor, in a great location but none of that matters in comparison to doing everything I can to assure that these hard working people get health insurance for themselves and their families.'

Craig Sheehy, president of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Sacramento, said that he found the relocations 'shocking.'

'They can vacate, but they still have to pay rent,' he said.

Sheehy said that he's trying to set up a meeting with the building owners and managers and the cleaning contractors on Friday morning. The contractors, he said, had a meeting of their own on Wednesday.

'I hope they make a decision to talk to the union,' he said.

'We just want [the strike] to end quickly,' Sheehy said. 'But the building managers and owners still feel it's up to the contractors to negotiate this contract with the union.'

Not all state agencies are showing their support by leaving their buildings. Many state workers enter through so-called 'neutral doors' where picketing is prohibited. Employees are using such entrances at both the Department of Finance located at 915 L Street, and the General Services Department located in the ziggurat building in West Sacramento, according to the departments' spokespeople.

By Melanie Payne and Gilbert Chan

To see more of The Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sacbee.com

Sacramento County, Calif., Restaurants Could Be Forced to Post Food Reports. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Melanie Payne, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 1--Despite opposition from restaurateurs, a key Sacramento County advisory group will urge the county Board of Supervisors to require restaurants to post the results of their health inspections for public view.

The supervisors, at a March 11 meeting, will consider this recommendation and several others aimed at improving food safety at 5,500 county businesses that sell food.

Besides posting health inspections, advisers in the Sacramento Environmental Commission are also recommending increased inspections and enforcement, providing additional education and disclosing health inspection results.

If the supervisors approve the changes, the county's Environmental Health Division would begin implementation in July.

Division officials spent several months developing the proposed changes following an August 2002 report in The Bee revealing deficiencies in the restaurant inspection process.

Restaurants and grocery-industry members continue to oppose any grading system or public posting of health inspection reports, while consumers and their advocates overwhelmingly favor the ideas, said Richard Sanchez, chief of the Environmental Health Division.

The staff's recommendation is for full disclosure, making the 'full inspection report available, without asking for it,' said Sanchez, whose unit oversees inspections of restaurants, stores, schools and festivals where food is sold.

State law requires restaurateurs to make the most recent health inspection report available to anyone who asks.

Such requests can disrupt restaurant operations and inconvenience or embarrass patrons, said Mel Knight, a member of the advisory group and Sanchez's director.

In addition, he noted, some restaurant workers and owners are unaware of the law and don't readily comply with such requests.

Another element of the disclosure program is for the Environmental Health Division to develop a 'certificate of excellence' to recognize restaurants that have exemplary inspection reports over three consecutive inspections.

Other changes to the food program will include:

--Increased inspections for restaurants. Currently, restaurants and groceries are inspected once a year. Under the new proposal, the frequency would increase to three times a year.

--Mandatory food school for restaurateurs who fail to comply with food safety laws.

--Increased enforcement that could lead to administrative hearings and referral to the district attorney for restaurant owners who refuse to keep clean and safe kitchens.

Implementing the changes in the food-safety program will cost $1.2 million, Sanchez said, primarily for additional inspectors and administrative support. Some of the costs will be offset by the department's reserves, he said.

Restaurant owners could expect an average 20 percent increase in their fees each year for the next four years. Food program fees currently range from $34 for a temporary stand and $375 for a bakery to $551 for a restaurant with a bar. The county has yet to determine the exact fee schedule for the next fiscal year.

The commission also recommended that the county develop its own Internet database of restaurant inspections that can be accessed by the public.

THE COST FOR INSPECTIONS:

If changes proposed for the food inspection program are implemented, fees will increase 20 percent each year on average for the next four years. Here's a look at some fees charged now:

--Produce stand: $188

-- Retail market smaller than 6,000 square feet: $255

--Retail market of 15,000 square feet or larger: $496

--Certified farmers' market: $330

--Bar: $255

--Restaurant with bar: $551

--Restaurant: $379

--School and/or nonprofit senior meal program: $195

--Bakery: $375

--Commissary: $285

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AstraZeneca and the Sacramento County Pharmacy Provide Free Medicines to Eligible California Patients. - Drug Week

AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) announced that it is providing medicines at no cost to qualifying patients at the Primary Care Center Pharmacy in Sacramento, California (see also Business News).

AstraZeneca's partnership with the Sacramento County Pharmacy is an expansion of its AZ&Me™ Prescription Savings program that provides medicines at no cost to health facilities around the country. The Sacramento County Pharmacy is the ninth organization in California to join the program.

'The partnership with Sacramento County will help patients who might otherwise go without the medicines they need,' said Jennifer McGovern, director, patient assistance programs, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP.

The Primary Care Center Pharmacy provides pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to nearly all departments within Sacramento County, dispensing an average of 1,200 prescriptions to patients per day. Over the last eight years, the pharmacy's free drug programs have grown from one program with annual savings of $300,000 to 16 programs with annual savings in excess of $4.4 million. Approximately 25,000 uninsured patients benefit from the program.

'Working with AstraZeneca, the pharmacy will be able to get medicines to the people who need them, while focusing our resources on delivering programs and services to residents,' said Steve Golka, director of pharmacy services, County of Sacramento.

Carrie's Touch, an organization that educates and empowers African-American women living with breast cancer in the Greater Sacramento area, praised the collaboration.

'I was fortunate enough to personally benefit from AZ&Me after losing my job and medical insurance,' said Rev. Tammie Denyse, Carrie's Touch founder and president. 'Without the support of this program, I would not have been able to receive my cancer medicine during this critical point in my treatment process. I am grateful this program exists.'

Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson said, 'AstraZeneca's commitment to providing free medicine is a crucial part of getting Sacramentans the care they need during tough economic times. Many low-income workers don't have access to employer-sponsored health insurance and others lost coverage when they became unemployed during the recession. Donated medicine ensures people get needed care and relieves financial pressure on an overburdened county health system.'

In 2009, AstraZeneca provided more than $27.7 million in savings to more than 15,900 patients in California under its prescription savings programs - known as AZ&Me. Nationally, the company helped more than 507,000 patients save $769.6 million on their medicines.

About AZ&Me Prescription Savings Program for Healthcare Facilities

AZ&Me™ Prescription Savings program for healthcare facilities provides medicines free of charge to community free clinics, community health centers, hospitals and other qualifying facilities that serve the uninsured. The program is available to non-profit organizations that have a licensed outpatient pharmacy or dispensary on site and meet other program criteria. Patients are eligible for AstraZeneca medicines through this program if they do not have prescription drug coverage and have a household income at or below $30,000 for an individual or $60,000 for a family of four.

Keywords: Business News, Cancer, Oncology.

Sacramento, Calif.-Based Hospital Chain Boasts Fiscal Vigor. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Lisa Rapaport, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

May 1--Sutter Health reported its strongest financial results in more than a decade Friday, outpacing record revenues from the previous fiscal year and shoring up resources for a planned hospital building boom, company executives said.

For the year ended Dec. 30, the Sacramento-based nonprofit health system reported operating income of $389 million on total revenues of $5.7 billion. That's a 6.8 percent operating margin as the nation's top-performing nonprofit hospital chains are typically hitting margins around 2 percent to 3 percent.

That is also the second consecutive year Sutter's margins far outpaced the industry average. In fiscal 2002, Sutter reported operating income of $265 million on revenue of $4.9 billion -- a 5.4 percent margin.

Robert Reed, Sutter's chief financial officer, hailed these operating margins as the essential foundation for capital expansions and technology upgrades that will cost an estimated $6.9 billion over the next 10 years.

'It's pretty straightforward math for us. We calculate our capital requirements and then set our margin targets,' Reed said. 'The hospital systems that have not generated the same margins can't make the same investments.'

Throughout Northern California, Reed said, Sutter is expanding hospitals, building physician offices, upgrading technology and buying new medical equipment.

While Sutter executives draw a straight line between boosting the balance sheets and building facilities, labor leaders long critical of the nonprofit chain's billing practices lambasted its financial results.

'Sutter's margins are so much higher than Kaiser and Catholic Healthcare West and all their competitors, yet those competitors are building just as much, if not more,' said Sal Roselli, president of Local 250 of the Service Employees International Union.

SEIU, the nation's largest health workers union, has in recent months pressed the California Public Employees' Retirement System to drop some of Sutter's hospitals from its health coverage, citing the high cost of care at Sutter. CalPERS is to vote May 18 on a proposal to drop 15 Sutter hospitals from its HMO network.

James Cortez, a nonprofit hospital analyst for the credit rating agency Standard & Poor's said Sutter's margins, while higher than other nonprofits, reflected a management strategy designed to make it cheaper for the health system to borrow the money needed for its building projects.

Sutter, which has an investment grade rating of AA-from S&P, has higher margins but a weaker balance sheet than its competitors, Cortez said. In particular, Sutter lags behind the industry average for its days of cash on hand, essentially a measure of how much rainy-day money is readily available to meet unanticipated expenses. Sutter has 109 days, far below the 178-day average for other chains.

Instead of stashing cash, Sutter is spending it on facilities and market share, Cortez said.

The 26-hospital chain earned nearly one-third of its income last year from five Sacramento-area hospitals: Sutter General Hospital and Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento; Sutter Roseville Medical Center; Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital; and Sutter Davis Hospital. Those five reported operating income of $109 million on revenues of $1.26 billion last year, compared with $95.6 million in income on revenue of $1.1 billion a year earlier.

Growing demand for specialty care helped bolster Sutter's revenues in the region, local executives said.

'If you look back at us in 1999 and 2000, we were really struggling financially here,' said Sarah Krevans, chief executive officer for Sutter's Sacramento region. 'Now, we have seen our organization perform very well in the past two years. And we are seeing an investment in facilities and technology as a direct result of that turnaround.'

Building plans include:

--$385 million at Sutter General Hospital for a new women's and children's medical campus; remodeled units for cardiovascular transplants, pediatric intensive care and oncology.

--$118 million at Sutter Roseville Medical Center for new medical offices in Roseville and Lincoln; an outpatient surgery center; a new, 90-bed acute care hospital tower; and expansions of intensive care, trauma and family birth services.

--$8.8 million at Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital for expansions of the emergency room, cardiac lab, ambulatory surgery and women's imaging units.

--$7 million at Sutter Davis Hospital to expand outpatient surgery, emergency department, labs and operating rooms.

To see more of The Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sacbee.com

Sacramento County Board of Supervisors Declare Voices of Meningitis Week. - Biotech Week

The Sacramento Board of Supervisors, including Roger Dickinson, Chair, have partnered with the California School Nurses Organization (CSNO), Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services, and Sacramento Healthy Community Immunization Coalition, to declare August 16-20 as Voices of Meningitis Week in support of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Voices of Meningitis campaign, a program that aims to help educate families of preteens and teens about the dangers of meningococcal meningitis and the importance of vaccination (see also Meningitis).

Meningococcal disease may be rare, but it's often devastating and can take the life of a healthy child in just a single day. Public health officials recommend meningococcal vaccination for preteens and teens 11 through 18 years of age and college freshmen living in dormitories. Yet, despite these public health recommendations, the National Immunization Survey found that less than half of California teens 13 through 17 years of age have been immunized, which is far below the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) goal of a 90 percent vaccination rate.

'Over the years our community has suffered the deaths of young people from this disease. We now have an effective vaccine to prevent the disease and back to school is the perfect time for those entering middle school or high school to get vaccinated,' said Glennah Trochet, MD, Sacramento County Public Health Officer.

'I urge parents of preteens and teens in Sacramento County to speak to their child's school nurse or health-care provider about meningitis and vaccination, especially this week as we declare it Voices of Meningitis Week,' said Supervisor Dickinson.

Following the declaration, local Sacramento preteens and teens from the Twin Rivers Unified School District will lead by example by receiving their meningococcal vaccination.

Keywords: Active Immunotherapy, Bacterial Vaccines, Biological Therapy, California School Nurses Organization, Central Nervous System Disease, Communicable Disease Control, Environment and Public Health, Human, Immunization, Immunomodulation, Meningitis, Meningococcal Vaccines, Pediatrics, Public Health Practice, Therapeutics, Vaccination.

Food Safety Checks Grow in Sacramento County, Calif. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Melanie Payne, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 17--Sacramento County's watchdog of sanitation and safety in restaurants conducted almost 71 percent more food safety and health inspections in 2002 than in the previous year.

Environmental Health, a division of the Environmental Management Department, inspected 6,406 restaurants, bars, fairs and school kitchens in 2002, compared to 3,748 in 2001.

Mel Knight, director of the Environmental Management Department, attributes the increase to a full staff of inspectors for the first time in years. Knight also said he will ask the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday for permission to hire six new inspectors, a technician and a supervisor for environmental health.

He said the new positions are needed for the proposed increase in restaurant inspection frequency and other plans to improve the food program, such as posting inspection reports, setting up a food school and awarding certificates to exemplary facilities. The board will consider those changes at a March 11 meeting.

Like many county agencies, Knight said his department had been running with a 25 percent vacancy. Positions were available, as was money to hire, but suitable applicants were scarce.

In the Environmental Health Division -- the area with the most vacancies -- five of 12 staff positions were unfilled for years, Knight said. Even the Environmental Health Division chief position went unfilled for months, Knight said.

As a result, the department became reactive, he said, responding to complaints and not keeping up with the routine inspections that prevent problems and educate business owners.

The tide turned in late January when Richard Sanchez was hired as division chief. By late summer, the division was fully staffed.

With managers and staff in place, the Environmental Health Division was able to improve systems and develop their electronic tracking, Knight said. Managers can now get weekly reports detailing the number of inspections and their results.

The county can now provide The Bee with weekly updates of restaurant inspection reports, which readers can access at www.sacbee.com/inspections.

The division also can track restaurants that had licenses suspended for health code violations. Beginning today, The Bee will list those restaurant names and addresses monthly.

Division chief Richard Sanchez said having a full staff also has brought other changes. For example, if someone calls with a complaint that a restaurant's food has made them ill, the inspector calls the restaurant to check if there were other complaints before going to inspect.

'With additional staff, that may change,' Sanchez said, conceding that the call could be a 'heads-up' allowing the restaurant to destroy suspected food or clean before the inspector arrives.

But some restaurants, especially chains, 'are very upfront about the complaints they have received,' Sanchez said. 'We didn't view it as a warning call, we viewed it as trying to get information.'

Sanchez said he plans to change the policy, instructing inspectors to make unannounced inspections after receiving food-borne illness complaints from the public.

Thomas Peacock, author of 'Is it Safe to Eat Out?,' said calling to investigate a complaint is ineffective.

'With a restaurant everyone can start scrubbing,' he said. 'If you have something that you thought was suspect and the inspector wants to take samples, you won't have any left by the time he gets there.'

Sacramento restaurant owner Vincent Cano said that he supports changes in the county's food program. He already requires Los Patios workers to attend food handling school, he said, and more inspections will keep people on their toes.

'We know the inspector will show up some day so we're already sitting ready,' he said.

Environmental Health has proposed posting restaurant inspection reports at restaurants. Some other counties give restaurants a health grade that's posted in restaurant windows.

The California Restaurant Association has spoken out against grading systems, but Cano said he thinks it's a good idea.

'They should post A, B, C or D. That would be more effective,' he said. 'I think the letter system would be better for the customer.'

It would also challenge restaurants that weren't rated an A to 'pick up the grade, like school,' Cano said.

Some consumers appreciate the changes in the county's food program.

'I think the proposal is a heck of a good start,' J. Stuart Soeldner, a retired UC Davis medical professor, said of increased inspections, more enforcement and other changes.

He doesn't, however, like the idea of posting an entire health inspection report at a restaurant.

Reading the reports is difficult and people won't bother, he said. 'It will be an exercise in futility.

Soeldner prefers a simpler approach: 'They have to put up a grade.'

RESTAURANT CLOSINGS:

These restaurants were closed by the Sacramento Environmental Health Division during January:

Tokio; 428 J St., Sacramento; closed Jan. 14; reopened Jan. 16; operating without a valid health permit.

New Rice Bowl II; 1407 Howe Ave., Sacramento; closed Jan. 9; reopened Jan. 9; surfacing sewage in kitchen.

Asia Express Chinese Food to Go; 7208 Florin Mall Drive, Sacramento; closed Jan. 9; reopened Jan. 21; lack of hot water.

Source: Sacramento County Environmental Management Department

To see restaurant inspection reports, go to www.sacbee.com/inspections

To see more of The Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sacbee.com