Further evidence that running a hospital is like playing goalie for a dart-board team in a losing season.

News items that surfaced Oct. 17 at a Fresno/Madera section meeting of the Hospital Council of Northern & Central California:

• Why does it take so long for California regulators to do an inspection of new clinics, operating rooms and other services so hospitals can use them? Other fault-finding activities generate more money for inspectors, so licensing hits the bottom of the to-do list.
• Those charged with overseeing a multi-billion-dollar, federally mandated overhaul of California's prison health care system see no need to dialog with existing nonprofit hospitals to determine if some cooperative venture might avert creating expensive new prison beds -- even in communities where the public has no access to hospitals at all. And if hospitals lose pharmacists, docs, nurses and dentists because the prisons pay better and have better bennies, well, tough nougats.
• Both California and federal lawmakers are on break. Yet each group is already talking about billions in spending cuts that will have to come -- even as trillions are tossed around in the bailout/rescue (depending on whether you're outraged or relieved by what the feds are doing).  Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines of Clovis says it's better for state lawmakers to stay at home rather than show up for some special session that the Governator might call. His reasoning? Let the Big Five (Villines, Senate minority leader Dave Cogdill of Fresno, Schwarzenegger, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Senate pro tem president Don Perata) agree to a plan and then call for a legislative vote. One of Villines' ideas -- a two-month sales tax moratorium, so people who have a few dollars might spend them during the holiday season.
• All the public health cuts that counties like Fresno are being forced to make because of the state budget deficit, well, keep a list of those cuts that were averted this fiscal year. Likely, they'll be recycled for chopping next year.

And people thought rugby players were wacky for playing without pads? Ya wanna be a nonprofit hospital CEO these days?