UC to Reconsider Operating MLK Hospital
The University of California has indicated that it is willing to reconsider a limited role in the reopening and ongoing operation of Martin Luther King-Harbor Hospital. The Hospital was closed nine months ago when the county failed to pass its last-chance federal inspection. Pacific Hospital, which had been the leading candidate to operate MLK, pulled out of the negotiations in April.
The Los Angeles Times reported that UC President Robert Dynes preferred a scenario in which the university would play only academic and clinical roles at the hospital while a third party acted as administrator. LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has said that a partnership between the County and UC is the last, best hope for reopening the hospital and offered the following inducements for the partnership:
- The County would lease the hospital and campus to UC on a long-term basis for $1
- The Board and DHS would cede governance and day-to-day management of the hospital to UC to operate through one of its campuses
- Federal and state funds that normally would be allocated to the County to compensate indigent care at MLK Hospital would be directed to UC as the new operator
- UC could staff the hospital without being subject to the Countys hiring and employment rules
- Two-hundred fifty medical residency slots would be available to help expand UCs medical education program.
Both State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas and City Councilman Bernard Parks, candidates for the County's 2nd Supervisorial District in which MLK Hospital is located, have called on UC to become involved as a partner in operating the hospital and proposed changes to the County's hospital governance structure. Senator Ridley-Thomas is also pushing for a public-private partnership with an administrative and governance structure that operates outside the County's political authority and health services bureaucracy and is accountable to the people it serves. CHC and its Coalition for Health & Justice are recommending a public-private partnership, new governance structure, stable long-term funding and a healthcare workforce development plan for a reopened MLK Hospital. For more information, contact Korie White Flournoy. Funding Formula for Clinics Lacks Equity
A Working Group of representatives from the Department of Health Services and the Community Clinics Association of Los Angeles was charged by the County Board of Supervisors last September to recommend an equitable, countywide funding method that meets the healthcare needs of the uninsured and underinsured under the County's Public Private Partner (PPP) clinic program. The Group recommended that the 2008 Allocation Formula be based 100 percent on unmet need by SPA. However, the current allocation of funding differs significantly in some SPAs from the percentages in the 2008 formula. For example, SPA 6(South LA)is underfunded by 10.4%, while SPA 4(Downtown/ Hollywood)is overfunded by 21.85%. Citing the potential impact to current patients, the Working Group did not recommend that the formula actually be used to redistribute funds equitably. Instead, the Group suggested that any new unallocated funds be distributed to the clinics in the under-equity SPAs. The Group identified only $1.2 million to be allocated to these clinics initially.
The lack of equal funding for South LA community clinics fuels an escalating healthcare crisis since the closure of MLK Hospital. The County funding provides community clinics in South LA with only $26 per uninsured person compared to the $75 received in West LA. If adequately funded, the clinics could help alleviate emergency room overcrowding. SPA 7 (East LA), SPA 3 (San Gabriel Valley) SPA 8 (South Bay) and SPA 1 (Antelope Valley) are also under-equity by -9.8%, -6.8%, -2.4%, and -2.4% respectively. The community clinics in LA County have demonstrated a track record of providing cost effective care to patients, and studies of community clinics throughout the country have shown their effectiveness in reducing uninsured and disease-related visits to the ER.
The County is considering addressing this issue by allocating another $44.8 million of unspent tobacco tax funds toward the "under-equity" clinics. On June 17th, the LA County Director of Health Services will report back to the Board of Supervisors on redirecting $40 million of tobacco funds to expand public private partnerships over the next 3 to 5 years and utilizing $4.8 million of the remaining tobacco funds to expand the clinic infrastructure. However, the county faces a significant budget deficit. The tobacco funds were to be allocated to help fill the DHS budget rather than to equalize the funding formula for community clinics. Community Health Councils has asked that the Board apply the allocation formula recommended by the Work Group to any unallocated funding for the current year and to all subsequent contracts with community clinics. For more information, contact Annie Park. May 30, 2008
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