San Mateo County is responsible for providing medical care to its medically indigent adult (MIA) population. San Mateo Medical Center (SMMC) is a general acute care hospital and does not provide certain highly specialized services. A contract with Mills Peninsula Hospitals ensures that specialty services are readily available.
Services provided under this agreement are required medical services that are not presently provided at San Mateo Medical Center. The majority of the 5% of patient referrals to Mills Peninsula are for inpatient cardiac and outpatient vascular services. Examples of other services include higher resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and cardiac catheterization.
All patients referred to Mills Peninsula Hospitals undergo utilization review to minimize hospital stays and maintain control over costs. Comprehensive per diem rates are negotiated as part of tertiary care contracts to account for patient transitions through each level of care, including intensive (ICU), telemetry (step down), stabilized (med/surg), observation, and eventual discharge. The negotiated per diem rates are 3% less than those received by SMMC from the Health Plan of San Mateo (HPSM). San Mateo Medical Center is also requesting a waiver of the RFP process because the facility maintains contracts with all area hospitals for tertiary care.
Delay of this contract was due to ongoing discussions of patient transfers under EMTALA guidelines. An agreement on who bore financial responsibility for these patients was not reached until November 2005.
The term of the agreement is two years from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2007. County Counsel and Risk Management have reviewed and approved this agreement
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