10 months ago
29
FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - The lawyer for 2 Fresno non-profits, Fresno Building Healthy Communities and Cultiva La Salud, has filed a suit against Community Health System.
They assertion the vale healthcare staple has 'misused' Medi-Cal dollars, aimed to amended attraction for Medi-Cal and uninsured patients.
Money the plaintiffs reason was diverted distant from Downtown Fresno's Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC) and was alternatively sent to Clovis, to physique up Clovis Community Medical Center.
Sandra Celedon, President and CEO of Fresno Building Healthy Communities, says that has taken resources distant from an country they judge has the top need.
"Whether you're white, black, Latino, moving class, oregon precocious income, nary of those demographics should substance successful presumption of the level of work that you person astatine the hospital," Celedon said. "Community Health System has created these stark differences."
Celedon besides claims they've uncovered a dollar magnitude utilized connected Clovis successful the 10-figures.
"We've been capable to way implicit $1 cardinal that has been utilized successful the past 14 years to grow Clovis, portion the facilities are allowed to decay successful downtown Fresno," she said.
Celedon claims $815 cardinal of those dollars since 2009 were utilized successful superior projects astatine Clovis Community, arsenic she claims CRMC received conscionable implicit $224 cardinal for improvements.
It's unclear however much, if immoderate of those dollars were from Medi-Cal. However, Celedon says the alleged disparity has created inadequate staffing and attraction astatine the Central Valley's lone level-one trauma center.
She says each her enactment and Cultiva La Salud privation successful this suit is "accountability."
"We privation to marque definite that that infirmary gets the concern that it truthful desperately needs, that the facilities are upgraded and brought to existent information standards, that the unit get entree to the instrumentality that they need," she said.
In effect to the claims and lawsuit, Community Health System's Vice President of Communications and Legislative Affairs Michelle Von Tersch provided a statement.
"Community Health System is profoundly committed to serving Central Valley patients, peculiarly those insured by Medi-Cal, truthful it's harmless to accidental we are highly disappointed successful this baseless lawsuit. Addressing inaccurate claims lone serves to instrumentality clip and resources distant from our non-profit healthcare mission," she said.
We were capable to corroborate the lawyer representing the plaintiffs successful the suit, Patience Milrod, is not moving pro bono. Celedon was incapable to remark astatine this clip connected what her compensation could look like.
