August 2, 2012, Mountain View, CA. -- The El Camino Hospital District today announced that the Service Review and Audit conducted on behalf of the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) is complete. The Commission approved the LAFCo staff recommendations, which did not include the recommendations put forth in the third party consultant’s report. Those had been a concern to the District. The District appreciates the ongoing collaboration with LAFCo to discuss the report’s findings, and will continue to work with LAFCo to address the recommendations within the LAFCo staff report to increase transparency and accountability.
In addition to concluding that El Camino Hospital is a well-regarded and successful organization that provides important services to District residents, the final LAFCo report also concluded that all District taxpayer funds are properly tracked and accounted for. It does not recommend dissolution of the District.
"We are pleased that the report confirms our operational efficiency and that the District and Hospital Corporation provide an essential health care service to District residents," said John Zoglin, chairman of the District Board of Directors. "As a publicly accountable organization, we are committed to acting in the most transparent manner and finding ways to better inform, educate and serve the community. We will continue to collaborate closely with LAFCo and will provide ongoing updates to community about the steps we are taking to make further improvements."
In May, the five-member Commission was presented with a draft Service Review and Audit of the District prepared by a third-party consultant. It is standard for LAFCo to conduct a Service Review every five years, and as with all service reviews, it serves as a tool to help LAFCo, the public and other agencies better understand the public service structure and ensure that health services are being efficiently and effectively provided in the District. An audit was also performed to answer specific questions related to the acquisition of the Los Gatos campus, the District governance structure and its financial relationship to the Hospital Corporation.
While the report provided to LAFCo by its third-party consultant concluded that the District did not fund the acquisition or operations of the Los Gatos campus, it questioned the benefit of the campus to District residents. In a report conducted by KPMG on behalf of the District and Hospital Corporation, the KPMG auditors found that the purchase of Los Gatos has greatly benefit District residents by:
- Improving the health of District residents by providing them with expanded access to orthopedic spine, rehabilitation and urology care
- Serving populations outside the District, which allows El Camino Hospital to increase its revenue, operating margin and financial stability
- Contributing to the improvements of both the operating performance of El Camino Hospital and improved its cash position by generating positive cash flow
- Further enabling the hospital to remain independent and locally controlled
"For more than 50 years, the mission of the District has been to provide quality health care services first and foremost to District residents," continued Zoglin. "Every decision the District Board has made in the past - and will make into the future - makes the health needs of the District residents its top priority and as the health care environment continues to evolve, we will be sure that our District is well-positioned to meet those changes."
About the El Camino Healthcare District The El Camino Hospital District was established by voter approval in 1956 in accordance with California Local Hospital District Law. The purpose of the District is to establish, maintain and operate or provide assistance in the operation of health facilities and other health care services provider, groups and organizations that are necessary for the maintenance of good physical and mental health in the communities served by the District. The District, now known as El Camino Healthcare District, encompasses most of Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills; a large portion of Sunnyvale, and small sections of Cupertino, Santa Clara, and Palo Alto. The publicly elected El Camino Healthcare District Board of Directors approves tax dollar expenditures, including expenditures for the award winning Community Benefit program. Community Benefit funds are granted each year to local nonprofits, schools and government programs that provide critical health services to the underserved. All District Board meetings are publicly noticed, open to the public, and available for viewing on the District website.