Medi-Cal<\/a> represented roughly $1.9 billion<\/a> in funding received by Santa Clara County last fiscal year. The county receives that money through reimbursements for patient care at its four county hospitals and multiple clinics. Last fiscal year, the county spent more than $6 billion<\/a> on its health care system, or half of its $12 billion budget. This year, the county is expected to spend more than $7 billion<\/a> on its hospitals.<\/p>\n Half of\u00a0county hospital system\u00a0patients pay through Medi-Cal. The rest pay through a mix of other means and Medicare, a separate federal program serving patients 65 and older and patients of all ages with certain disabilities.<\/p>\n Even though Santa Clara County voters passed Measure A<\/a> last month to increase sales taxes by 0.625% in an effort to help fund health care services, the estimated $330 million<\/a> in expected annual revenue only covers a fraction of what is lost from federal cuts.<\/p>\n Going against contract<\/p>\n Several nurses \u2014 who asked not to be named due to fear of retaliation \u2014 said some workers have been furloughed without the option to work in another unit or improve their education, going against the contract<\/a> the nurses union has with the county. They said it\u2019s the first time in their years-long careers with the county they have been pushed to take time off work.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re furloughed, you have to use your (paid time off). You don\u2019t have a choice,\u201d one nurse told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cSome people are running out (of vacation time), and so pretty soon they\u2019re not going to have any pay.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to furloughs at the ICU in St. Louise, nurses said furloughs have taken place at O\u2019Connor Hospital\u2019s ICU,\u00a0the neonatal intensive care units at Regional Medical Center and Valley Medical Center and\u00a0the labor and delivery unit and newborn care at Regional, among other units.<\/p>\n At St. Louise, furloughs have caused ICU patients to wait in the emergency room for 12 to 24 hours, nurses said, with many nurses not taking their breaks.<\/p>\n \u201cThe morale of the unit is quite poor. People are quite upset,\u201d another nurse\u00a0told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cThey\u2019re consistently running the ICU short staffed compared to past times. They were running short to begin with, and then now they\u2019re also furloughing nurses on top of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Hospitals in California are legally required to have one nurse for every two ICU patients. For the medical-surgical unit where patients are recovering from surgery, the staffing ratio is one nurse for every five patients.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not as simple as ratios. Mount said the county can\u2019t accurately predict patient demand, especially when emergencies happen.<\/p>\n \u201cLike firefighters and police officers, how can you say you don\u2019t think there will be any fires today or crime will be less today?\u201d Mount told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cYou should always staff for the unexpected in areas like critical care and, the very least, staff to the ability of your (registered nurses) being able to get their deserved breaks.\u201d<\/p>\n The Santa Clara Valley Healthcare spokesperson said the county will follow the appropriate process to comply with its labor agreements, and is doing everything it can to preserve vital services.<\/p>\n \u201cSanta Clara Valley Healthcare is exploring every option to protect existing service lines due to budget cuts resulting from H.R. 1,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cThis includes reviewing all contracts for savings potential, identifying synergies across the enterprise system and working directly with staff to identify where costs can be reduced or services can be better aligned.\u201d<\/p>\n Patient transfers<\/p>\n Last year, the county bought Regional Medical Center<\/a> from HCA Healthcare<\/a> to save services the for-profit corporation slashed in the East San Jose hospital, including obstetrics, labor and delivery and newborn care services.<\/p>\n The county restored maternity services<\/a> in October\u00a0when it moved maternity nurses from O\u2019Connor to Regional. However, nurses said some mothers who were being seen by doctors at Regional have been transferred to Valley Medical Center to deliver their babies.<\/p>\n One nurse told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight there hadn\u2019t been a patient at Regional\u2019s NICU unit for three weeks. Nurses who transferred from O\u2019Connor to Regional expected to continue their regular volume of work, but\u00a0have instead\u00a0been furloughed.<\/p>\n Allan Kamara, vice president of the Registered Nurses Professional Association and a nurse at the Valley Medical Center emergency department, said obstetrician-gynecologists were telling mothers to go to Valley Medical Center for their delivery. Meanwhile, he said the labor and delivery unit there is overflowing with patients.<\/p>\n \u201c(Regional Medical Center) continues to have a very low census and very few deliveries since reopening, while (Valley Medical Center) is experiencing an overwhelming number of deliveries, putting a significant burden on the VMC staff,\u201d Kamara told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n The county spokesperson said they aren\u2019t aware of physicians telling patients to deliver at Valley Medical Center, and that Regional\u2019s deliveries \u201care on par\u201d with what O\u2019Connor once had.<\/p>\n \u201cRegional Medical Center is in its early stages and we anticipate continued growth and improvement in patient census,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cThe overall patient census at Regional has grown from about 90 on the day of acquisition to around 200 on most days.\u201d Nurses are calling for the county to cut administrative and procurement costs first before laying off frontline workers.<\/p>\n \u201cCutting bedside\u00a0(registered nurse) positions causes exponentially more harm to public safety than reducing management roles,\u201d Mount said. \u201cFor a short staffed public hospital system already stretched too thin, weakening frontline care is not a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"NewsMatch](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765838947_66_interactive-255337946814.png\")
<\/a>A nurse said Regional\u2019s NICU unit has started to\u00a0receive patients again after San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight inquired about the transfers to Valley Medical Center.<\/p>\n