The State - News from June 22, 1989

Health officials are working on a plan to increase the number of patients San Francisco General Hospital can accept, especially poor and uninsured patients who are apparently being diverted in an attempt to placate community hospitals threatening to drop out of the 911 emergency ambulance system. Dr. David Werdegar, public health director, said the new city budget would enable the hospital to staff 40 to 60 more beds with nurses compared to the past year, which would help curb the number of diversions. Lynn Baskett, spokeswoman for the Hospital Council of Northern California, said the diversion practice has, during a busy month, cost the nine private hospitals participating in the 911 system up to $200,000 each. “It’s felt like the city was solving its budget problems by being on (ambulance) diversion,” she said. “And there was no incentive not to divert. It saved the city money. And the patients got cared for.”