On Aug. 7, Cultiva La Salud and Fresno Building Healthy Communities filed a lawsuit against the Community Health System (CHS) for the misuse of $1 billion in public funds. CHS operates both the Fresno Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC), which is the Fresno downtown hospital, and Clovis Community Medical Center.
According to the lawsuit, CHS has diverted substantial resources from Fresno CRMC, the region’s safety net hospital that serves a wide population of workers and low-income residents, to Clovis Community Medical Center, a medical facility that serves a more affluent population.
“First, we want to know how the money was spent,” says Genoveva Islas, executive director of Cultiva La Salud. “Apparently, important resources were taken away from Fresno to invest in Clovis.”
Some numbers provided by the plaintiffs are astonishing: $1 billion was invested in Clovis CMC for capital projects, including new facilities and upgrades, whereas only $400 million was invested in Fresno CRMC. Overall, 70% of all net patient revenue for both hospitals is generated by Fresno CRMC.
Why did the board of directors of CHS decide to funnel such a big chunk of money from one hospital to the other?
“We would like to know more about this, we know that some developers are part of the board of directors and apparently some decisions were taken behind closed doors,” says Islas.
“In 2023, Fresno Hospital had 685 beds and got over 116,000 ER visits, which shows the importance of this hospital in comparison with Clovis. On top of that, Fresno has a Trauma Center, where injured people—either by accidents or acts of violence—are sent.”
No data are available about the impact of the closure of Madera Hospital, which resulted in more patients being sent to Fresno—particularly victims of accidents or violence.
“We also need to consider some demographics here,” says Islas. “Many of the Fresno Hospital patients are immigrants, people without health insurance or low income, while Clovis doesn’t have this population, like people living in poverty…So why was so much money ‘transferred’ from one hospital to the other?”
Islas insists that they are interested in a “better distribution” of the funds among hospitals, based on the needs of the patients.
There is a clear difference in the experience at the two hospitals: Clovis, is newer, just remodeled, with new equipment, and is comfortable, with almost no wait to see a doctor. Fresno is the opposite despite receiving a much bigger volume of patients.
“A very important point for us is that we want accountability regarding the use of funds,” says Islas. “We would like to know how patients at the Fresno Hospital are impacted by this situation of less resources; we want their testimonies.”
For more details about your local hospital, the lawsuit and/or to submit your testimony, visit care4fresno.org.
