In Brief: Antelope Valley Hospital Board Is Shaken Up By Election

One of the largest district hospitals in California has been shaken up after two of its incumbent directors were turned out of office by local nurses.

Mateo Olivarez and Kristina Hong, both nurses at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, won seats in last month's election. They ousted incumbent director and board chair Doddanna Krishna, M.D. and director Berna Mayer, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Abdallah Farrukh, M.D., was the only incumbent to retain his seat in the election. Two other district directors were not up for election.

Both Farrukh and Mayer had supported the decision last year for Antelope Valley Hospital to retain Alecto Healthcare Services to manage the hospital's operations and install its own C-suite of executives. Payers & Providers had previously reported that the contract would cost the hospital millions of dollars a year more than if it had simply hired its own executives. Olivarez and Hong's campaigns criticized the deal, saying it damaged the morale of hospital employees.

The hospital was also hit by its first-ever strike by about 1,000 nurses in late September, an action that drew more fire to hospital management. Although the strike lasted for a single day, about $3.9 million was spent to hire traveling nurses under a five-day contract, according to published reports.