Sonoma Valley Hospital announces $20M fundraising campaign

The Sonoma Valley Hospital Foundation today announced a fundraising campaign to raise $20 million from private donors, foundations and the public for a new outpatient diagnostic center for the hospital.

The plan is to create a 20,000-square-foot diagnostic hub with updated technology including a 128-slice CT scanner and a new MRI in hopes of modernizing and increasing revenue for the cash-strapped Sonoma Valley Hospital. The foundation has already raised $14 million from private donors and foundations.

The hospital projects that the new diagnostic center would increase net revenue to the tune of $1.5 million annually, for one reason because doctors wouldn’t have to refer patients elsewhere for advanced diagnostic care.

The diagnostic hub would be located in the vacant space left by the hospital’s emergency department when it was moved to Andrieux Street in 2014. It would also have updated ultrasound and X-ray equipment, as well as updated space and equipment for cardiology and lab services. Presently, the hospital’s MRI machine is in a trailer.

“This is part of the solution – generating income through improved diagnostic services,” said David Pier, the foundation’s executive director, in an interview. Pier said the foundation has been approaching local philanthropists for donations for the last six months.

“Diagnostics makes money and is part of where hospitals are headed. Having good diagnostics means people will not leave” and get the work done at other facilities, Pier said.

The University of California at San Francisco hospital has agreed to use the new facility as its diagnostic service center in the North Bay, according to Kelly Mather, the hospital’s chief executive. According to the hospital, this should create new revenue.

Two major cost-cutting moves at the financially strapped hospital – closing its obstetrics department and transferring its home care service to Hospice by the Bay – have already taken place this year. A proposal to close the hospital’s skilled nursing facility is also under discussion.

The closure of the obstetrics department was bitterly disputed by many members of the community. A standing-room-only crowd, many of whom were mothers, fathers and children, showed up at the July board meeting at which the decision to close the department was made.

Asked why the fundraising campaign had not been directed toward saving the obstetrics department, Pier said, “We are raising money for something that will raise our revenue, not drag it down.” The department was expected to sustain a half-million-dollar loss in the fiscal year 2018 and saw a 35 percent drop in births since 2015.

Obstetrics departments are expensive to run because regulations demand an extensive amount of staff on hand to ensure the safety of the mother and baby.

In 2017, voters in the Sonoma Valley Health Care District passed a $250 parcel tax to support the hospital. Having raised $14 million from private donors, the hospital foundation will now be seeking donations from the broader community.

Carolyn Stone, who started the foundation in the 1980s and chaired the board for decades, had some questions about the campaign.

“Do they know how many times the existing pieces of equipment are used?” Stone asked.

In response, the hospital’s chief executive, Kelly Mather, said, “The MRI has 1,300 exams per year and is projected to go up. The CT volumes area also around 1,300 per year.”

Stone was also critical of the idea of moving the MRI equipment into the hospital.

To that, Mather said, “A 3 Tesla MRI cannot be done in a trailer, only a 1.5 Tesla MRI can be in a trailer. The 3 Tesla MRI is becoming the new standard and is especially important with our UCSF physicians.”

Reach Janis Mara at janis.mara@sonomanews.com.