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The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
See below for questions on
Experience,
Finances,
Collaboration
Click on a name for candidate information. See also more information about this contest.
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1. What experience or training do you have which would help the District meet its goals?
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Answer from Peter C. Fung:
As a medical doctor for more than 35 years, I understand the difficult challenges facing the healthcare industry and the impact on El Camino Hospital. I understand that in order to achieve the hospital's mission of improving the health and well being of the community, we have to address the health of the whole person. Traditionally, through specialization in the medical field, professionals have focused on specific aspects of an individual's health, not necessarily how the specialization's interconnectivity gives us insight into whole wellness and preventative healthcare. This is one reason I was a founding member of El Camino Hospital's Chinese Health Initiative, an initiative dedicated to improving health literacy and wellness of Chinese members of the Bay area. My experience as a doctor, a vascular neurologist, and my involvement improving the health literacy of our communities makes me uniquely qualified to serve as a District Board Member.
Answer from David Reeder:
I have been honored to represent the residents of the El Camino Healthcare District for many years. During this time, I have gained a broad understanding of the healthcare needs of our community, the impacts of the Affordable Care Act, and the future of healthcare in our country. My dedication to public service started many years ago when I served for eight years on the City of Los Altos Planning Commission followed by another eight years on the Los Altos City Council, including a term as Mayor. A few years later, members of the community reminded me that El Camino Hospital is owned by the community in the same way that our libraries and parks are, and encouraged me to run for the El Camino Healthcare District Board to help make sure the Hospital met the needs of the community. (Back then, it was called the El Camino Hospital District.) My management, governance and leadership experience in aerospace, high tech and nonprofit organizations will ensure that we achieve the major transformations in healthcare ahead of us by developing effective partnerships with physicians, skilled nursing facilities and home health providers to the benefit of our District residents.
It is critically important over the next few years that we have an experienced Director who understands the impacts of the Affordable Care Act and how important our new strategy is to ensuring local control of our hospital, along with a successful transition from the traditional role of hospitals to the evolving role of population health and continuum of care while continuing to provide top-decile quality and patient experience with affordable prices. I will use my experience on the Hospital Board's Finance, Quality and Governance committees to address these priorities while ensuring that, even in the face of these changes, our patients will always come first.
My community and leadership experience includes:
- El Camino Healthcare District Board of Directors, past Board chair
- El Camino Hospital Board of Directors, past Board chair
- El Camino Hospital Foundation Board
- Chair, El Camino Hospital Board Quality Committee
- Chair, El Camino Hospital Board Governance Committee
- Past Chair, El Camino Hospital Board Finance Committee
- Past Chair, El Camino Hospital Board Compliance & Audit Committee
- 2013 Leadership in Governance Award, California Hospital Association
- Los Altos City Council
- Los Altos Planning Commission
- North County Library Commission
- Los Altos Community Foundation Board
- CHAC Board
- Center for Age-Friendly Excellence Board
- Los Altos Mediation Program Board
- Extensive professional experience as a business analyst and program manager at Lockheed, Sun Microsystems and Oracle
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2. What is your evaluation of the financial condition of the District?
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Answer from Peter C. Fung:
As the Medical Director for El Camino Hospital's Stroke Center, I have a thorough understanding of the healthcare finance, having to balance optimal personnel, utilization of unique and new innovative medical equipments with budgetary restraints. By following the latest established guidelines and adhering strictly to the highest standard to avoid errors, duplications and variation of care, a lean and efficient program can be achieved to provide the highest quality of care. As a Board Member I will use that knowledge, combined with my unique experience, to ensure the hospital has a solid financial base in order to continue providing world-class health care to the community. This can be accomplished, and I am the candidate that has succeeded in doing so in a smaller scale with the Stroke Center.
Answer from David Reeder:
The financial condition of the District is excellent.
Each year, the El Camino Healthcare District receives $17 million of property tax funds from the residents of the District. $5 million of this is used to pay down the general obligation bonds that voters approved in 2003 to rebuild the hospital under new seismic requirements. $6 million is dedicated to improving community health through Community Benefit grants to nonprofit organizations in the District. Finally, another $6 million is used for long long-term capital improvements to El Camino Hospital.
Of even greater interest is the financial condition of El Camino Hospital which is governed by the Healthcare District. The financial condition of the Hospital is excellent.
Over the last several years El Camino Hospital has had strong financial performance, significantly better than budget. For the year ending June 2014, El Camino Hospital achieved revenues of $740 million with net income of $96 million. This strong financial performance is important to fund the major capital improvements the Board has committed to over the next five years. We plan to significantly expand the Women's Hospital, adding private delivery rooms and expanding the neonatal intensive care unit. We are expanding and relocating the Cancer Center within the Mountain View hospital campus, and we will be rebuilding and expanding our behavioral health facility. In addition, we will be building a new medical office building to accommodate our expanding medical staff.
I am committed to ensuring the long-term financial viability of El Camino Hospital.
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3. In what ways would you collaborate with other governmental entities and community groups to achieve the District's goals?
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Answer from David Reeder:
The El Camino Healthcare District's Community Benefits program collaborates with other governmental entities and community groups by providing grants to:
- Improve healthcare access
- Fill the gaps in mental health services
- Encourage healthy eating and physical activities
- Provide community health education
Here are some examples of the Healthcare District collaborating with governmental entities and community groups. First the District supports the RotaCare Clinic in Mountain View and the MayView Community Health Center in Mountain View and Sunnyvale in providing primary medical care to low-income residents. Next, the District grants money to the Valley Health Center in Sunnyvale to provide a medical home to help ensure that residents have access to medical care and ongoing management of chronic illnesses. Further, grants are provided by the District for additional nurses in the Mountain View-Whisman School District and the Sunnyvale School District. Finally, grants are made to Momentum for Mental Health, which provides psychiatry, crisis counseling and case management for uninsured individuals with serious mental illness. The El Camino Healthcare District invests in several programs that support the long-term health of the children in our community. And, the District supports the Chinese Health Initiative and the South Asian Heart Center.
It should be noted that each supported program is rigorously benchmarked and measured to ensure the greatest benefit to the community.
These Community Benefit grants support El Camino Healthcare District goals by making meaningful investments that help individuals in our community, especially the economically disadvantaged, to get the healthcare they need. By funding these programs and activities we contribute to the health and wellbeing of the community as a whole.
Answer from Peter C. Fung:
El Camino Hospital's Stroke Center is considered in the top 5% in the nation, receiving Gold Plus Award from the American Heart Association 4 years in a row. These accolades come about by not only providing world-class medical programs and access, but also by working with local governmental and community based organizations to provide those services. I reach out to the community centers, nursing homes, Fire Departments, Paramedics to provide health education. I worked tirelessly with the nursing department, Hospital Board and Administrator in the planning and oversight as well as quality reporting. Only by working together to identify those who need medical services and health literacy can we then provide those services and increase the health and well being of the community. As a Board member I will continue to play an active role in forging those partnerships to ensure the hospital achieves its mission.
Responses to questions asked of each candidate
are reproduced as submitted to the League.
Candidates' statements are presented as
submitted. The answer to each question should be limited to 400 words. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.
The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.
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League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
