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San Benito County faces a projected shortage of more than 50 health care providers, mostly in primary care and licensed clinical social workers, by 2031, according to a survey commissioned by the San Benito Health Care District. The shortage drives residents to seek services out of the county, the report states.
According to the Provider Need Assessment conducted by hospital consultant Wipfli, the county is projected to have a “significant” shortage of 19.9 full-time primary care physicians and 11.8 licensed clinical social workers, as well as a shortage of 4.1 full-time professionals in general surgery and 3.8 in cardiology.
“As we think about the current supply of providers that you have today and how your population is going to continue growing and aging over the next five- to 10-year-period, this is where we’re seeing a significant access barrier in the form of provider shortages,” Sydney Diekmann with Wipfli said.
She said the recommendations given to hospital administration included investing in facilities to expand services and improving community and provider awareness of hospital services.
Diekmann said the projection looked at the health care district’s service area and removed the estimated number of county residents that use Kaiser services outside the area, which according to the presentation currently amounts to about 15,000. The service area closely follows the county line.
Wipfli also conducted a survey of what residents believe is needed, known as a Community Health Needs Assessment, which was found to be generally aligned with the findings of the provider assessment. The most significant health-related needs the survey identified were access to primary care, mental health services and affordable services.
Input was collected through interviews with community members and organizations, providers and the hospital’s executive team, as well as 172 health survey responses from the community, according to Diekmann’s presentation.
Diekmann said access to primary care is the community’s No. 1 priority with 95% of respondents indicating they want more primary care service options at the hospital.
She said gaps in primary care include appointment wait times and the need for more same-day urgent care options for cases that don’t necessarily require a visit to the emergency room.
“In our conversations with your leadership, we understand that your facilities right now, your clinics, are at capacity and that your facilities are constraining your ability to fully meet this need within your community,” Diekmann said.
She said the second highest identified need by the community was specialty care including cardiology and dermatology.
As to measuring how many residents travel outside the county for services, Diekmann said Wipfli looked at Medicare payments and found that in 2024, 62% of residents enrolled in Medicare traveled outside the county for outpatient services, while 74.8% did so for inpatient care.
She said the most common inpatient services residents traveled out of the county for were orthopedics, cardiology and general medicine. For outpatient treatment, the most common were chemotherapy drugs, musculoskeletal system surgery and cardiovascular medicine.
“That means there is a significant opportunity to keep patients more local for care,” she said.
CEO bonus
The health care district’s board of trustees unanimously approved bonus incentives for Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital CEO Mary Casillas. The essential terms remain the same as those discussed at the February meeting. However, the evaluation metrics were changed from her anniversary year to the fiscal year (see table below).
The criteria evaluated in the incentive plan include increases in the hospital’s net income, doctor recruitment, patient satisfaction and average daily census at its skilled nursing facilities. The package makes Casillas eligible for up to a 10% bonus based on her salary of $477,000.
| 2025/2026 goal | Bonus incentive | |
| Earnings % | 8% | 1% |
| 10% | 2% | |
| 12% | 1% | |
| Patient satisfaction rate (12 months) | 64% | 1% |
| 65% | 2% | |
| 66% | 3% | |
| Recruitment | 4 | 2% |
| Skilled nursing facility census (12 months) | 87% average census | 1% |
| 88% average census | 2% |
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