SEIU health care branch takes aim at CA hospital, clinic spending
The Service Employees International Union is taking aim at health care spending, pushing to put two initiatives before California voters that would place new restrictions on hospitals and safety-net clinics.
Health care associations said the initiatives would have unintended consequences and place unnecessary burdens on institutions already expecting funding cuts, an increase in the uninsured population, a complex landscape for immigrant patients and the potential oncoming bureaucracy of Medicaid work requirements.
The SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, meanwhile, argued that health care spending deserves more scrutiny precisely because of the anticipated budget constraints.
“Overall, we want to ensure that health care money is going into actual health care,” said Renée Saldaña, press secretary for SEIU-UHW.
One of the ballot initiatives would require community clinics to spend the equivalent of 90% of annual revenues on patient care.
The initiative does not go into detail about what types of expenditures would be considered part of providing patient care. Saldaña said the union had not defined that yet, but that broadly, money should go toward things like paying health care workers and not executive pay and “pet projects.”
If the initiative passed, every federally qualified health center in the state would have to make dramatic budgetary changes, said California Primary Care Association President and CEO Francisco Silva.
Community clinics often provide social services that are widely viewed as essential, even if not directly tied to medical care, he said. For instance, some community health centers have robust teams of translators. And street medicine — health and social services for the unhoused — is a multidisciplinary effort that includes nurses, doctors, community health workers and navigators.
“Most of that wouldn’t be considered patient care,” he said. “We would be forced to cut it or pay a penalty for it.”
A second ballot initiative would create salary caps for hospital executives.
Total pay for executive, managerial and administrative jobs at hospitals would be capped at $450,000, with future increases tied to the consumer price index — one of the most common measures of inflation — without exceeding 3.5%.
The California Hospital Association argued that the initiative would make it harder to recruit and retain skilled executives.
“At a time when California’s health care system will be tested like never before, it’s regrettable that one organization is driving the best and brightest minds away from our state,” Association President and CEO Carmela Coyle said in a statement.
Even large health systems will likely face cuts under the new federal budget, said Saldaña, the union spokesperson.
“This is going to hit California hospitals and medical centers really hard,” Saldaña said. “More so than ever, it is critical that hospitals are directing funds to patient care.”
The union will begin collecting signatures for both initiatives in the fall.
