California hospital leaders seek legislative reprieve for industry 'broken' by COVID-19
Sacramento Bee
4/30/2021
Cathie Anderson, The Sacramento Bee
Apr. 30—The COVID-19 pandemic has "left a majority of California's hospitals financially challenged, unstable and in some cases, broken," while proposed and existing state regulations are pushing them further over the brink, said the CEO of California's top hospital trade group.
Speaking to media in a conference call Wednesday, Carmela Coyle of the California Hospital Association said 58% of the state's hospitals operated in the red in 2020, up from 40% a year earlier, according to a financial analysis released by health-care management consultant Kaufman Hall. Coyle cited statistics but also asked hospital chiefs from El Centro Regional Medical Center in Imperial County, Enloe Medical Center in Chico and UC San Diego Health to join the call and report on how the challenges of the past year affected each of their institutions.