Harbor-UCLA and Olive View-UCLA Medical Centers will stay open,
thanks to $150 million of additional federal funding over the next
two years.
The hospitals were threatened by a county health department
deficit that has forced the closure of 16 hospitals in the past
year.
While the funding agreement completed on Tuesday will postpone
hospital closures, it does not solve all of the county’s
funding problems.
“This is enough to keep the hospitals open for an
additional year or two,” said Bobi Johnson, health deputy for
County Supervisor Gloria Molina.
Los Angeles County manages and funds Harbor-UCLA and Olive
View-UCLA, while the university provides some staff.
The arrangement gives students at UCLA’s School of
Medicine an opportunity to gain experience in hospitals that they
could not gain otherwise.
County supervisors had discussed closing the hospitals for
months, but decided to put off a decision while negotiating with
federal and state authorities for more funding.
Hospital staff are very relieved now that they know funding is
secure, said Jesse Thompson, chief of surgery at Olive
View-UCLA.
“We’ve been getting federal funding for a long
time,” Thompson said. “We knew something was going to
happen. We just didn’t know when or how much.”
The county received what supervisors thought they could
“really count on” after discussions with federal
authorities last fall, said Joel Bellman, press aide for County
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
They asked for $1.4 billion in funding last year but received
only $150 million, just over one-tenth of their request.
“This doesn’t significantly help solve our
problem,” Bellman said.
But the money will give county officials time to solve their
budget problems, projected to rise to $709 million within three
years.
The federal funds come after voters approved Measure B, which
provides $168 million per year to keep the county’s trauma
centers and emergency rooms open.
The new property taxes will solve about half of the county
health department’s financial problems, Bellman said.
Health officials have proposed other cost-cutting measures, such
as barring non-residents from receiving some care, to save
money.
The hospital closures over the past year will save $241
million.
Supervisors voted 4-1 last week to close Rancho Los Amigos
““ the only county hospital providing rehabilitation services
for serious heart and spinal injuries.
Bellman said it was unrealistic to expect the federal government
to provide enough money to keep that hospital open.
But the federal funds will keep the county’s trauma
network open.
Harbor-UCLA is a part of this system, which delivers emergency
care to victims of serious injuries or accidents.
County and medical experts predict closing Harbor-UCLA would
destroy the trauma network, as private hospitals are forced to
close their emergency rooms.
But the federal funds are not a permanent solution. Johnson said
the federal and state governments would need to change their
funding policies to provide more for inpatient care.
Thompson said changes are needed because of the high number of
uninsured patients in the county.
“Hopefully we can continue to negotiate to make further
reforms and changes in our system so we can maintain our
viability,” Thompson said.