Sutter Health has entered into a arbitration hearing with a Northern California hospital district over the fate of $180 million the system transferred while managing Marin General Hospital, reported the Marin Independent Journal.
The Marin Healthcare District leased Marin General to Sutter between 1995 and 2010, but sued Sutter after it discovered it had transferred the funds. It claimed Sutter transferred the money after 2006, when a date had been set to return the facility to district control. The district noted that while in 2007 Sutter reported cash and reserves of hundreds of millions of dollars for some of its other hospitals, Marin reported a reserve of just $8 million, noted the article.
Marin General's new operating corporation claims it will have to spend up to $500 million on seismic upgrades by 2020. "We sure could use some if not all of the $180 million that left our hospital," Susan Adams, a member of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, saind in the article. Adams picketed a Sutter property last week to protest Sutter's transfer.
The arbitration hearing's result is binding on both parties. It is expected to conclude in February.
To learn more:
- read the Marin Journal article
- read the North Bay Business Journal article on the lawsuit