SAN JOSE – Nearly five months after Santa Clara County announced its plans to buy Regional Medical Center within the wake of HCA Healthcare's decision to downgrade the trauma center, an agreement has been reached on the sale.
The county will take over operations of the 258-bed East San Jose hospital on April 1, making it the fourth hospital within the Santa Clara Valley Healthcare System — the second-largest county-owned health and hospital system within the state.
The purchase caps a virtually year-long saga that sent shockwaves across the East Side as residents frightened in regards to the lack of a trauma center nearby and county officials raised concerns in regards to the potential strain on the local health care system.
Santa Clara County is buying the hospital for $150 million, lower than the $175 million price previously announced in August.
“In the long term, this is a real strategic move for the county,” County Manager James Williams told The Mercury News. “This is a huge win for the community. This will help ensure stability and access to integrated care for the entire eastern portion of Santa Clara County, and that provides stability throughout the Santa Clara Valley healthcare system.”
HCA (Hospital Corporation of America) originally intended to completely close the Regional Medical Center's trauma center and discontinue certain services for cardiac arrest and stroke patients. But in July, the Tennessee-based healthcare giant announced it will as an alternative downgrade from a Level II facility to a Level III facility and retain a few of those life-saving services. The changes got here into effect on August 12, 2024.
But county leaders and native medical experts said that wasn't enough. There aren’t any other Level II trauma centers in Santa Clara County, and the downgrade to Level III resulted within the hospital now not having certain specialties – similar to neurosurgery – on call. The nearest Level I trauma centers are Valley Medical Center, eight miles away, and Stanford Health Care, greater than 20 miles away.
In an announcement, the president of HCA Healthcare's Far West division said
Jackie Van Blaricum said, “Our dedicated nursing staff will be instrumental in ensuring that Regional Medical Center makes a smooth transition to the Santa Clara Valley Health System.” HCA Healthcare stays a powerful community partner of Good Samaritan Hospital and we sit up for continuing to offer the high-quality Providing health care Santa Clara County deserves.”
Williams said the county's first priority is to revive Regional Medical Center's designation as a Level II trauma center, which he said will occur the day the sale closes and the county takes over. He expects cardiac arrest and stroke services to resume soon.
Williams said the county continues to be planning to revive labor and delivery services that were closed on the hospital in 2020, but there was no timeline for when that might occur.
“There will be no disruption to services,” Williams said of the ownership change. “The hospital itself will go from HCA operations to county operations literally overnight. There will be no disruption or closure of the hospital itself.”
Recently elected Superintendent Betty Duong, whose district includes the Regional Medical Center, said in an announcement that “the dismantling of health care services at RMC East has hit San Jose hard.”
“The county’s purchase and rescue of the Regional Medical Center, located in the heart of one of the most marginalized and historically disadvantaged areas of our county, is critical to restoring critical access to health care,” she said.
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