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Partnership represents a turnaround for St. Rose, which had faced closure before Alameda Health System’s intervention
Stanford University and Alameda Health System announced a new partnership on Thursday to expand specialized medical care at St. Rose Hospital in Hayward and bolster its financial stability.
The agreement is considered a triumphant milestone for St. Rose Hospital, which administrators feared would close as recently as 2024.
The partnership will allow the hospital to develop a new inpatient psychiatric unit, allocate nursing beds for Stanford Health Care referrals and let some Stanford Health Care surgeons use its operating rooms. The efforts, leaders said, will bring long-term sustainability for a hospital that serves 400,000 residents of central and south Alameda County.
“This collaboration with Stanford Health Care will advance a markedly different paradigm,” said Alameda Health System CEO James Jackson. “Rather than retreating in the face of adversity, the Alameda Health System has chosen to advance, reinforcing the health care safety net and reaffirming our long-term commitment to community-centered care.”
The new partnership stabilizes the regional health care safety net by leveraging St. Rose’s nationally-ranked skilled nursing facility with the “invaluable clinical experience” of Stanford Health Care, Jackson said. In addition, the partnership will support the St. Rose Foundation to support community health initiatives.
St. Rose had nearly shuttered in 2024 as it served a high number of uninsured patients with declining overall patient volume. Births were so uncommon at the hospital that administrators closed the labor and delivery unit. And at the height of its financial crisis, the hospital was losing $2 million per month.
“We knew what it would mean if this community hospital closed its doors,” said District 20 Assemblymember Liz Ortega. “Losing St. Rose would mean losing lives, and that’s simply not an option.”
In November 2024, St. Rose and Alameda Health System entered an agreement to keep the hospital open as an affiliate of Alameda Health System.
In 2026, hospitals also face the effects of the Congressional Republican budget bill H.R. 1, also known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” as it cuts a projected $1 trillion in Medicaid funding over the next decade. The cuts are expected to be especially hard on hospitals in low-income areas and communities of color like those in south Hayward.
“At a time when hospitals nationwide are shuttering or being absorbed into systems that risk diluting both quality and community accountability,” Jackson said.
Leaders from Alameda Health System, Stanford and elected officials lauded the partnership as a model for the rest of the country to follow. St. Rose’s financial stability has been secured and health care access in central and south Alameda County has been solidified, officials said. As for Stanford, the collaboration increases surgical capacity by utilizing St. Rose’s operating rooms and supports the university’s mission to expand access to specialized care in the East Bay, Stanford Health Care COO Rick Shumway said.
“For our patients to be successful, the communities have to be successful,” Shumway said. “Patients here in this community can access Stanford-level care, Stanford-level faculty right here at home. And that’s really what we are all about.”
For Hayward Mayor Mark Salinas, saving St. Rose is personal. He was one of five babies born there on Aug, 26 1970. It was the only hospital his parents could afford and could trust for care. Supporting St. Rose was helping support Hayward families like his, he said.
Alameda County District 2 Supervisor Elisa Marquez said the work to save St. Rose Hospital was an absolute necessity to preserve health care access across Alameda County. The joint-resolve of regional institutions against the “economic and political forces that are shuttering hospitals” should be a model for other communities nationwide, she said.
“We are the blueprint here,” said Marquez. “Jurisdiction boundaries do not matter when we’re focused on patient care and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable populations here in the region.”
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