Registered nurses oppose Measure X, urge voters to keep Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital public

Nurses say San Benito County's only hospital should not be sold to private Michigan-based company

Registered nurses at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital (Hazel Hawkins) in Hollister, California, are opposed to Measure X, a ballot measure that would eliminate the public's ownership, control, and oversight over the hospital by selling it to newly formed subsidiary, Insight Health of America, a private Michigan-based company, announced California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) today. Hazel Hawkins is currently publicly owned and governed by the San Benito County Health Care District Board of Directors.

"Hazel Hawkins belongs to the people and control of our hospital should remain in the hands of the community," said Isabella Zanger, a registered nurse in the medical-surgical unit. "As nurses who are committed to caring for the people of San Benito County and who receive care at Hazel Hawkins, we are vehemently opposed to this sale. Despite claims to the contrary, our hospital is not in dire financial distress. In fact, Hazel Hawkins ended the fiscal year with a net income of more than $15 million, plus $35 million in cash on hand, enough to fund its operations for 93 days without any additional revenues. The people of San Benito County must reject this unnecessary proposed sale and work instead to grow our hospital while maintaining local control."

Nurses have recently learned about questionable business practices employed by Chicago Insight, a nonprofit arm of Insight Health of America.

"We have learned that Dr. Shah, the owner of Insight, purchased a hospital in Chicago, set up a nonprofit entity to run the hospital, then claimed losses on the nonprofit, all while taking millions of dollars in consulting fees for his own separate consulting business," said Diane Beck, a registered nurse in the case management unit. "This is the kind of sleight of hand we should be prepared for if this sale goes through. We must ask again: why is the public being asked to consider a sale to a private unknown entity when we are not facing a fiscal emergency and there are options on the table that would keep local control of our hospital?"

According to 990 tax forms filed by Chicago Insight in 2022, 14 percent of the hospital's patient care revenues went to Dr. Shah's consulting firm for "management fees." These fees amounted to more than $12 million. If this type of arrangement had been in place at Hazel Hawkins during 2023, these management fees would have cost upwards of $20 million. Notably, in the same year, Chicago Insight received a federal grant of $12.7 million.

In March of this year, a bankruptcy judge dismissed the San Benito County Health Care District's assertion of bankruptcy, stating that the district "failed to show it is insolvent." Nurses have long contended the district's bankruptcy claims are an effort to bust the unions that represent Hazel Hawkins workers, by paving the way for a sale to a private entity.

Nurses understand that Hazel Hawkins has a rich history in San Benito County and appreciate that there is work to be done to grow the hospital to its fullest capacity. Nurses remind voters there are viable options that would keep local control of the hospital.

"It is shameful that there are those who are laying out nightmare scenarios of possible hospital closure to sell this idea of a sale to the public," said Ariahanna Sanchez, a registered nurse in the emergency department. "We want the public to know, these are nothing but scare tactics. Our hospital is not failing financially. What we do know for sure, is that if Hazel Hawkins is sold, the community will have no control over the decision-making process and no control over this vital resource that provides critical care to our families, our friends, and our neighbors."

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and nearly 225,000 RNs nationwide.