California’s children’s hospitals receive over one million
visitors a year. Many children come with complex and
life-threatening illnesses like cancer or pediatric heart disease
because they know these facilities are capable of healing the
most severe conditions. Others are flown in by helicopter
after experiencing traumas like gunshots, near-drownings, and
burns. Still others are seen in the specialty outpatient
clinics that treat rare conditions, like sickle cell and cystic
fibrosis, when community doctors lack the expertise to treat
them. Children’s hospitals are here to provide the sickest
children in the state the best health care in the world.
Children’s hospitals serve all children, regardless of ability to
pay. Medicaid covers nearly sixty-six percent of all
patient stays in a children’s hospital. That is almost
twice as much as the average community hospital. With
recurring threats to Medicaid funding at the federal level, and
the lack of new money at the state level, it is difficult for
children’s hospitals to make necessary investments in
infrastructure to meet the unique needs of children in
California.
California’s children’s hospitals must update all of their
buildings to meet strict state seismic safety rules, to protect
patients in the event of an earthquake. In addition, these
hospitals must use highly specialized equipment that is made
specifically for children – and this equipment can be
costly. Finally, new breakthroughs in medicine and
technology are making it possible for children’s hospitals to
heal children less invasively and sometimes using technology,
like telemedicine, so that patients can be treated closer to home
while still accessing the specialty doctors they need to treat
their illnesses. However, these new technologies can also
be costly to install.
This is why the children’s hospital bond of 2018 was so
important. This bond measure, also known as Proposition 4,
was approved by over 62% of California voters in November 2018,
and will provide California’s children’s hospitals and pediatric
programs at other non-profit and public hospitals with $1.5
billion in support to enable construction and renovation of older
facilities, and to purchase new technology to allow these
hospitals to continue healing children. Funds
generated by the bond measure will be used to build capacity in
specialty areas where the need is growing, like cardiac labs so
that wait times for surgery are reduced, and to make sure that
all hospital facilities meet the most stringent standards for
seismic safety. They will also be used to ensure that
children’s hospitals have the most up-to-date information
technology so that children’s medical records can be
appropriately accessed and secured.
This bond measure builds on the success of two earlier
children’s hospital bonds: Proposition 3, which raised $750
million for children’s hospitals in 2004 and Proposition 61,
which raised $980 million for children’s hospitals in 2008.
Thanks to the funds from Proposition 3 and Proposition
61, children’s hospitals have made substantial progress in
modernizing facilities throughout the state. Nevertheless,
rising construction costs and improvements in medical technology
require additional support. Proposition 4 will ensure that
children’s hospitals can continue to meet the needs of
California’s growing pediatric population cost-effectively.
