Kaiser Delays Closing Part of Sunset Facility

Kaiser Permanente, the giant HMO, has quietly put off plans to close parts of its flagship Sunset Boulevard medical center and transfer surgical patients to a Catholic-owned private hospital in downtown Los Angeles.

Kaiser had said in November 1996 that it would close inpatient operations at its sprawling Sunset center this year and begin sending surgical patients to St. Vincent Medical Center. But that plan has been scrapped, and Kaiser now plans to keep the Sunset hospital open for four to six years, said Katherine Faux, a company spokeswoman.

The reason for the change, said Faux, is an unanticipated surge in Kaiser membership in Southern California. After several years of flat growth, Kaiser membership jumped 17%, to 2.6 million members, last year, she said.

The growth meant “we weren’t going to fit” at the 380-bed St. Vincent hospital, Faux said.

In order to accommodate its growth, Kaiser now plans “significant construction” of new hospital facilities, Faux said. No decision has been made about whether that construction will be at the Sunset site or at the St. Vincent campus, she said.

The Sunset hospital is Kaiser’s main facility for its Southern California members who require complex surgeries, including cardiac procedures and organ transplants.

One reason for the original decision to move to St. Vincent was that Kaiser’s 41-year-old Sunset hospital is in need of expensive renovations to meet current earthquake safety standards. Kaiser may now go ahead with some renovation work, Faux said.

In anticipation of receiving Kaiser patients, St. Vincent began construction earlier this year of a new multimillion-dollar cardiac surgery wing, said Sherry Reese, a spokeswoman for Catholic Healthcare West, the San Francisco-based hospital chain that owns St. Vincent.

“We will look at other options” for use of the cardiac center, Reese said.

Reese said the decision to indefinitely delay transfer of Kaiser patients to St. Vincent was a mutual one and that the two companies continue to discuss “a longtime alliance.”

Responding to a question, Reese said St. Vincent has no plans to take legal action against Kaiser as a result of the deal.

In a related move, Kaiser has also decided to postpone plans for Catholic Healthcare West to operate a Kaiser hospital in Baldwin Park that was built but never opened by Kaiser several years ago.