Coastside Family Medical Center closes

The Coastside Family Medical Center located in the Shoreline Center shopping area closed its doors to business at noon Friday, and plans to fill bankruptcy papers within the next two weeks.  All of the Clinic’s 35 employees are being released.  Coastside is a nonprofit that logs 22,000 patient visits in a year—including a number of CUSD employees and students.

If you are a patient of Coastside, please be advised that you will find doors closed and locked at this time.  For medical records or prescription information, write a letter attention "Medical Records" to CFMC, 225 S. Cabrillo Highway, Suite 100A, HMB, or fax the instruction to: 650.726.9317.  General inquiries can be directed to Bob Harless at [email protected].

CFMC’s press release after the jump.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13,2009
Contact: Bob Harless or Vince Thomas Phone: (650) 712-2311 or 712-2324

Coastside Family Medical Center ("CFMC") permanently closed on Friday, March 13,2009. The closure was necessitated by declining revenues and the inability, despite sustained efforts, to obtain outside financial support to close the gap between revenue and expenses. CFMC assumed the operation from Stanford Hospitals and Clinics in 2001. CFMC was incorporated as a nonprofit by a group of concerned residents and has operated as such since, without government assistance. Until now, it had been able to meet operating shortfalls through the generosity of citizens and two major medical organizations, Mills Peninsula and Stanford. CFMC’s mission was to provide medical services to the entire Coastside community, and equally to the uninsured and under-insured. This "hybrid" model of clinic was unusual. Recent economic events served to worsen CFMC’s prospects of operating as a viable entity, to the point that CFMC was simply not meeting its operating expenses and its operating deficit became insurmountable.

The Board of Directors pursued numerous alternatives unsuccessfully over the past months, including donor funds, mergers, outright acquisition, available government programs and certifications.

Bankruptcy counsel has been retained. There will most likely be a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, and it is expected that patient files will be stored by the bankruptcy trustee for a reasonable period of time after the petition is filed and that assistance will be provided to patients to claim their medical files. In the mean time, patient records have been secured. Patients are urged to promptly contact CFMC to obtain their medical records. Inquiries can be made by contacting CFMC at its address, 225 S. Cabrillo Highway, Ste. 100A, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, attention "Medical Records", or by faxing the instruction to: (650)726-9317. General inquiries should be directed to [email protected] or rha [email protected].

The Board of Directors, doctors, other medical providers and staff have enjoyed the privilege of serving the Coastside for eight years. The Board extends its deepest thanks to the community for its generous financial contributions and other support which have made this work possible.