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San Antonio Regional Hospital warns of tight finances, outlines local clinic, residency and maternity expansion
Summary
San Antonio Regional Hospital CEO John Chapman told the council nearly half of California hospitals are operating in the red and outlined local initiatives: community health screenings, a new residency program to train 20 physicians a year, expansion of clinic access and a planned $60 million maternity unit expected in about two years.
John Chapman, president and CEO of San Antonio Regional Hospital, briefed the Montclair City Council on financial pressures facing hospitals and the health system’s local plans to expand access and workforce training.
Chapman said "49% of hospitals are in the red right now in California," and attributed financial strain to lagging payer increases versus double-digit inflation, rising wage rates and higher drug costs. He told the council that Medicare increases have been modest (about 5.2%) while hospitals face much higher inflation and wage growth.
To address workforce shortages, Chapman described San Antonio’s training programs: the hospital is training more than 120 new nurse graduates each year and has launched its first internal medicine and family practice residency in the hospital’s 107-year history, with a capacity to graduate about 20 physicians annually. Chapman said the hospital plans to recruit and retain roughly half of those graduates for local primary-care roles.
Chapman also described community outreach programs that bring clinicians to churches and neighborhood events for screening and follow-up care. At a recent event in Ontario, the hospital found that roughly 20% of people who took a hemoglobin A1C test did not know they were diabetic and were connected to follow-up primary care.
On facilities, Chapman said San Antonio is building a new maternity unit with two operating rooms—a roughly $60 million project expected to open in about two years—to reverse a trend of hospitals closing maternity and pediatrics services when under financial pressure. He also described a planned "center of aging" in Rancho Cucamonga that would colocate geriatrics, labs, imaging and senior-focused services and said San Antonio hopes to expand clinic locations into Montclair and neighboring cities.
Council members thanked Chapman and asked for follow-up materials. Chapman said he would email the presentation slides to the mayor and council and invited visits and follow-up conversations about siting clinics in Montclair.
The presentation provided local public-health data and outlined near-term service and staffing expansions; no formal council action was taken at this meeting.
