STOCKTON — San Joaquin County General Hospital operated at a $27 million deficit in January and that’s expected to grow to $32 million by June 30.

Hospital administrators and consultants painted a bleak financial picture at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, and supervisors were left scratching their heads at finding a solution for the problem.

The hospital has a total budget of around $200 million, according to county budget documents.

San Joaquin General primarily serves the indigent — people who don’t have health insurance. But Camden Group, an El Segundo consulting firm, suggested the Board of Supervisors consider expanding the county hospital’s services to attract insured patients.

The board was also given options ranging from investing in greater services to seeking a greater payback, cutting the hospital down to bare bones operations or keeping things pretty much the way they are.

They made no decisions Tuesday.

Supervisor Leroy Ornellas, who represents portions of Manteca, said he wants more options on the table — including closing down the county hospital altogether.

Supervisor Victor Mow, who represents portions of Manteca and all of Lathrop, suggested asking chief administrative officers and medical directors at other hospitals to brainstorm what can be done about the county’s situation with its hospital.

Mow added that he wants to find out how important San Joaquin General is to the other hospitals in the county, including whether they would be willing to contribute money toward the county’s operations to serve the uninsured.

Between the hospital and new county jail that is under construction, Mow said, the county faces $65 million to $70 million in annual operating costs that it doesn’t have.

San Joaquin General is very important to the Board of Supervisors, patients and the county’s economy, Lodi's supervisor Ken Vogel said.

Closing the hospital altogether is not a real option, since San Joaquin County is one of only 13 of the 58 counties in California to operate a general acute-care hospital, according to The Camden Group.

Counties like Sacramento, Orange and San Diego have agreements with the University of California system and other community hospitals, according to the report. To the south, Stanislaus County has a long-term agreement with Tenet HealthCare, a for-profit system.

San Joaquin General isn’t competitive with other hospitals in the county because Stockton and Tracy hospitals have increased their share of Medi-Cal Managed Care patients over the last four years, according to the consultant’s report.
And the county hospital lacks services used by older and “baby boom” patients, such as cardiac and comprehensive cardiac care, the Camden Group reported.

In addition to examining the hospital’s finances and operations, The Camden Group has also served as its interim managers.

Since Oct. 15, David Culbertson has doubled as a Camden Group vice president and interim CEO of the county hospital. Erlinda Bolor, also from Camden, is interim chief nursing officer, and Brian Eisenberg has been chief financial officer since Feb. 11.