REDLANDS SURGICAL SERVICES - Page 66




                                       - 66 -                                         
                    b.  Provision for Indigent Patients                               
               Petitioner concedes that as of December 31, 1993, Medi-Cal             
          patients accounted for only 0.8 percent of total procedures                 
          performed at the Surgery Center.  Petitioner argues that the type           
          of services which the Service Center offers is not the type of              
          services typically sought by low-income individuals.  Petitioner            
          notes that Redlands Hospital has negotiated certain provider                
          agreements that designate the Surgery Center as a subcontractor             
          to provide outpatient services for Medi-Cal patients, and that              
          Redlands Hospital has caused the Surgery Center to increase its             
          number of managed care contracts.  Petitioner suggests that these           
          efforts demonstrate petitioner’s influence over the operations of           
          the Surgery Center and evidence petitioner's charitable purposes.           
               We do not find petitioner’s arguments convincing.  The facts           
          remain that the Surgery Center provides no free care to indigents           
          and only negligible coverage for Medi-Cal patients.  That low-              
          income individuals may not typically seek the types of services             
          the Surgery Center offers may partially explain the virtual                 
          absence of relief it provides for such individuals.  But it                 
          provides no independent basis for establishing petitioner’s                 
          charitable purposes in its involvement with the Surgery Center.             
          Moreover, the activities of Redlands Hospital in effecting some             
          negligible degree of Medi-Cal coverage at the Surgery Center and            
          in increasing the number of managed care contracts do not provide           






Page:  Previous  56  57  58  59  60  61  62  63  64  65  66  67  68  69  70  71  72  73  74  75  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011