Amidst its ongoing financial distress, Palomar Health in North County has borrowed money from two other local hospital chains. But one of those loans has ruffled some feathers, as our Tigist Layne reports.
In May 2024, Palomar borrowed $25 million from Sharp Healthcare and approved an “exclusivity arrangement.” More recently, Palomar borrowed $20 million from UC San Diego Health.
Sharp didn’t seem to like that — even though it’s unclear exactly what the initial exclusivity arrangement entailed.
A Palomar Health board member said she believes there is “concern from Sharp over repayment of the loan and what a future partnership might look like between Sharp and Palomar.”
Palomar’s financial health has deteriorated in recent years. Its credit rating was downgraded from a substantial credit risk to a very high credit risk last year.
North County Report: More Homeless Enforcement
Carlsbad is now the latest North County city to crack down on homelessness. The city has banned people from living in vehicles on public property.
Last year, San Marcos also adopted a camping ban.
Up until last year, cities were following a judicial ruling which had essentially said that cities cannot enforce bans on camping on public property when shelter space is not available. Last year, the US Supreme Court overturned that precedent and since then cities have been passing tougher homelessness laws.
Carlsbad does not offer a safe parking program for people living in their cars and San Marcos does not have a shelter in its city limits.
Read the full North County Report here.
In Other News
- San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s leader is leaving. Paul Baribault joined the organization in 2019 and oversaw the creation of new exhibits and more. (Union-Tribune)
- A woman accused of stabbing her wife, a Cal Fire captain, to death pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday. (Union-Tribune)
- As our Jakob McWhinney previewed earlier this week, San Diego Unified is moving forward with efforts to build more housing. KPBS reports that the district is seeking development proposals for five properties.
- The Imperial Beach Pier’s deck is getting some improvements. (NBC 7)
The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
Diane Hansen needs to resign or be terminated immediately. The PH board is negligent in their duties by allowing the executive team to continue to run the district into the ground.
Since Diane Hansen has taken the top leadership position at Palomar Health, she has:
– Created a 165 million dollar budget deficit
– Reduced liquidity to 15 days of cash on hand. (A similarly sized healthcare organization should have over 150 days)
– Defaulted on the district’s bond covenants
– Orchestrated Kaiser Permanente’s departure from patient care at Palomar Health resulting in a decline in district revenue
– Received a no-confidence vote from the entire medical staff at Palomar Health
– Received a no-confidence vote from the entire nursing staff at Palomar Health
– Caused multiple nursing-lead strikes due to poor working conditions and substandard pay.
– Attempted to privatize management of the district and subvert public scrutiny and control
– Received calls to resign from her own board
– Received criticism from local and regional political organizations for her poor management
– Broken business agreements with Sharp leading to threatened litigation
The slew of poor press news articles is akin to watching a crash in slow motion. It is painful and sad to see the state of the district reduced to rubble by the actions of one administrative team. The community deserves better.
Diane, you caused this disaster.
Diane, by your actions, you have proven that you are unfit for your position.
Please resign for sake of the community and the health of its constituents.