Blue Ribbon Panel Update: Dr. Steve Lockhart, CPMC Community Liaison to the Panel

San Francisco, CA (February 11, 2008) – Under the guidance of Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier and Dr. Mitch Katz, Director of San Francisco’s Department of Public Health, an public-private planning process is being developed to ensure California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) plays its part in promoting the health care needs of all San Franciscans. A “Blue Ribbon” panel of leaders in health, business, community, and labor is being convened to develop a viable plan for acute care hospital and outpatient services at CPMC’s St. Luke’s campus which complements and is supported by CPMC’s current institutional plan for its other campuses.

We are pleased that Stephen M. Shortell, PhD, MPH, Dean and professor at the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley has agreed to chair the panel. He will be joined by the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California as Vice Chair.

To date, the following participants have accepted to join the panel:
Mitch Katz, M.D., Director of San Francisco Department of Public Health
Catherine Dodd for the Mayor’s Office
Anthony Wagner, Vice President Kaiser Permanente
Linda Bien, President & CEO of North East Medical Services
Jean Fraser, CEO San Francisco Health Plan
Jacob Moody, Bayview Hunters Point Foundation
Ed Kersh, M.D. for St. Luke’s medical staff
Damian Augustyn, M.D. for CPMC medical staff
Ken Barnes, M.D. for Savestlukes.org

Other invitations are still pending. Representatives from the California Nurses Association and the Service Employees International Union have also been invited.

The meeting dates have been determined:
Meeting #1 – March 20th
Meeting #2 – April 16th
Meeting #3 – May 8th
Meeting #4 – May 19th
Meeting #5 – June 3rd
Meeting #6 – June 18th

Besides hearing from its own members, the Blue Ribbon Panel will also get input from the wider community. CPMC’s Steve Lockhart, M.D., PhD, will serve as a community liaison to the panel and will gather community input with the help of Fr. John Golenski, a neutral third party, for presentation to the panel. This effort will provide the panel with the opportunity to query the community on any issues for which it desires a community response. This component will include targeted interviews with individuals and groups, as well as public comments at ‘town hall meetings. A special task force will then gather those ideas and suggestions from the community, and create a thoughtful consensus report.

“I feel very positive about the progress being made and look forward to the panel’s work,” says Mitch Katz, M.D. who has been closely involved with the panel development and recruitment. “California Pacific Medical Center has shown a strong commitment to the process.”

“Very talented and thoughtful individuals have agreed to participate,” says Martin Brotman, M.D. “And I am grateful because I know this will demand a time commitment on their part. They are providing a very valuable service to the community with their participation.”

The Blue Ribbon panel is expected to publish a report by the end of June.

My response to Steve Lockhart.
.....I was sent this in response to a request for an update from Judy Li, Chief Managing Officer of St. Luke's, that could be shared widely with the many who are concerned about the future of St. Luke's.....

Thank you very much Steve,

Judy certainly does deserve some time off!

This update is a great help. Many people are very interested in what is happening, and hesitant to get their hopes up about a rebuilt St. Luke's given the many fears and disappointments staff and community have experienced since CPMC and St. Luke's merged. There is a very high level of distrust, as I am sure you are aware. The more true transparency that can surround this process the better.

I for one, am cautiously optimistic and hopeful about this process, especially given the quality and expertise of the people who have agreed to serve on the Panel. The process that is proposed to gather community input, I think ,will be critical, if patients, practitioners, staff, and community organizations are to really believe that St. Luke's will actually be, not only saved, but revitalized, and invested in for a long time to come.

This beloved institution, rooted deeply in a charitable tradition is still feeling very battered, and bruised, given the many lay offs and the dismantling and crippling of services that have occurred, until recently, with very little input from those most directly affected.

But there seems to be a new day dawning in how CPMC is going about its planning process, and for that I can only say "hurray"! Thank you for the part you have and will play in what will hopefully create a viable and appropriate model of care to meet the diverse needs of all the City's communities South of Market. We look forward to a rebuilding and "repairing" of those services that are vital to the public health and well being of the patients we serve and of our neighborhoods.

I will see that this update is distributed widely.

Sincerely,

Bonita Ann Palmer, MD, MFT. MDiv.
Department of Family Medicine
St. Luke's Campus, CPMC
Co-Chair, Save St. Luke's Campaign
www.savestlukes.org 415-647-8390 (ph/fax)