Good Samaritan Hospital clears rezoning hurdle at San Jose City Council

Despite criticism from some city leaders over the past few weeks about HCA Healthcare’s previous service cuts, the San Jose City Council will not stand in the way of the health provider’s plans to build a new facility at Good Samaritan Hospital.

Instead, the City Council unanimously approved rezoning the hospital’s campus Tuesday — allowing it to move forward with the permitting process to build new facilities that comply with state seismic law — amid overwhelming support for the project from patients, labor groups and medical professionals.

“We are not going to solve the lack of behavioral health capacity in our community by holding up a seismic retrofit and rebuild of a hospital that has provided tremendous health services for so many in our community,” San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said.

Due to the age of most of its facilities, HCA will need to rebuild all but one of the structures on Good Samaritan’s campus to meet seismic requirements that go into effect on Jan. 1, 2030.

Without the seismic retrogrades, the state could revoke Good Samaritan’s license to offer acute care beds, putting greater strain on the healthcare system. HCA has estimated it will invest $1.2 billion in the project, allowing the current hospital to remain in operation during the construction phase.

The new project could create 1,000 construction jobs in addition to supporting the thousands currently at the hospital.

“We are thankful for the San Jose City Council’s approval of Good Samaritan Hospital’s proposed $1.2 billion investment to meet the state’s earthquake-safety mandates,” the hospital wrote in statement to The Mercury News. “This investment is crucial for ensuring that our 55,045 annual patients have continued access to essential community healthcare, both now and in the future. We deeply appreciate the Council’s decision and the extraordinary support of the San Jose community.”

The city approved a similar project last month when Kaiser Permanente received clearance to start construction on its new hospital in South San Jose.

HCA first sought to rezone its property to increase the allowable floor sizes for the new hospital. The company will still need to receive its permits before it can begin construction.

But instead of its application being treated as a simple land-use issue like Kaiser’s project in the leadup to Tuesday’s meeting, HCA faced intense pushback from community groups, planning commissioners and even members of the City Council over the perception that it puts profits over patient care, creating harm to the health system.

In a symbolic vote last month, the city’s planning commission decided not to recommend approval of the Good Samaritan project after a barrage of comments critical of HCA’s business practices.

Similarly, the Rescue Our Medical Care campaign — a coalition of community advocacy groups — targeted HCA over its previous reduction in services at various facilities across Santa Clara County.

Fresh in their minds was the downgrade of Regional Medical Center’s trauma unit in East San Jose, ultimately resulting in the county purchasing the hospital to restore the services.

The group also cited the shuttering of San José Medical Center, the shutting down of the maternity ward at Regional Medical Center and the elimination of acute psychiatric beds at another facility.

Fearful of a potential reduction of services at Good Samaritan Hospital, the campaign had demanded that HCA create a patient protection fund and restore the acute psychiatric beds.

“I’m not against the development,” said Darcie Green, executive director of Latinas Contra Cancer. “I am against allowing HCA, the company, a blank check to worsen our quality of life and create health inequity where it otherwise would not exist in this city. Our general plan calls for equitable healthcare access. HCA’s closures and divestments undermine the city’s vision for a connected, healthy community with access to essential services.”

Sympathetic to the cause, District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz had attempted to delay proceedings so HCA officials could meet with more community members and listen to their demands. Ortiz also asserted that the city could consider HCA’s past actions in deliberations.

“I just want to mention that the council does have the right and obligation to consider a healthcare organization’s benefit to the community when making land-use decisions,” Ortiz said. “In addition, the general plan obligates us to support development that meets the healthcare needs of the residents of this city, not just one portion of the city, but of the entire city, and we have to make sure that there aren’t adverse effects on the overall health care system of the county.”

However, the city attorney’s office disagreed.

“We do have a lot of policies that are very broad, but ultimately, the decision has to tie back to the location, the neighborhood, the site, and this particular use,” Deputy City Attorney Johnny Phan said.

While HCA acknowledged it had reduced inpatient psychiatric services, the company said it would consider adding those to the facility under the right circumstances. Complicating the issue, however, was the lack of psychiatrists to meet the county’s behavioral health needs.

“In this community today, there is a deficit of 61 psychiatrists to meet the needs right now, and so I think collectively, we need to work together to figure out how to fill that deficit so we can meet the needs,” said Jackie Van Blaricum, president of HCA’s Far West Division. “It’s not just about the beds. It’s about having doctors to support those patients.”

HCA has also indicated support for creating a community advisory council like it has at other facilities to further the dialogue on operations and ensure the hospital is a good steward.