County Moves Forward With King/Drew Transfer AND- Future of King/Drew Medical Center Considered

[CAL/AAEM News Service]

County Moves Forward With King/Drew Transfer
 
Source: California Healthline (http://www.californiahealthline.org)
Date: October 4, 2006 
  

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve in
concept a plan to transfer administration of Martin Luther King/Drew University Medical
Center to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the Washington Post reports. The plan comes after
CMS in September informed King/Drew administrators that the hospital had failed an
inspection and would lose eligibility for federal funding (Geis, Washington Post, 10/4). 

The renamed Harbor-Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital would be reduced in size to
114 patient beds and would feature an emergency department and expanded outpatient
center. Pediatrics, neurosurgery, neonatal intensive care and other specialties would be
transferred to Harbor-UCLA (Hymon/Rosenblatt, Los Angeles Times, 10/4).

The plan calls for King/Drew employees to reapply for their jobs at the facility and
states that those not rehired at Harbor-King will be transferred to other county
facilities (Anderson, Los Angeles Daily News, 10/3).

Kathy Ochoa, a senior health policy analyst at the Service Employees International Union
Local 660, proposed a county hiring freeze to accommodate King/Drew employees. 

 
Drew University
The plan proposes terminating King/Drew's affiliation with Charles R. Drew University of
Medicine and Science, which trains medical students at the facility.

County Department of Health Services Director Bruce Chernof said the county would like to
help reassign Drew students to other county facilities.

David Janssen, county chief administrative officer, said the county would not renew its
contract with Drew to manage medical training programs and provide some patient care at
the facility. The contract expires June 30 and is worth about $12 million annually.

Drew President Susan Kelly said the university likely would have to cut back some of its
training programs. 

 
Remaining Concerns
According to the Times, it remains unclear whether the facility would have to cease
operations during the transfer, which Chernof said would take more than one year to
complete.

In addition, state officials must approve the management transfer, and federal officials
must agree to reinstate federal funding for King/Drew under the new management structure
(Los Angeles Times, 10/4).

When asked if county funds could be used to sustain operations at the hospital without
federal funding, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said that the county "simply can't backfill
$200 million" (Los Angeles Daily News, 10/3).

Chernof said the county would have to close the hospital if federal funding is not
restored. 

 
Harbor-UCLA
In response to reports that Harbor-UCLA CEO Tecla Mickoseff was considering resigning in
opposition to the plan, hospital spokesperson Julia Rees said Mickoseff told her "she is
not intending to resign."

Physicians at the hospital in a statement on Monday questioned whether Harbor is equipped
is to accommodate additional patients.

Chernof said the county would support Harbor-UCLA during the transition. 

 
Next Steps 
The board of supervisors directed Chernof to develop specifics of the proposal and
present it to the board for final approval in two weeks.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Tuesday voiced support for the plan, a development the
Times reports could contribute to "the plan's ultimate success" (Los Angeles Times,
10/4). 

 
Broadcast Coverage
Several broadcast programs included discussions on the board of supervisors' approval of
the proposal for King/Drew:

KCRW's "Which Way, L.A.?": The segment includes comments from Los Angeles County
Supervisors Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Yaroslavsky; Ralph Di Libero, orthopedic surgeon
and president of the Los Angeles County Medical Association; Ochoa; Charles Ornstein,
health policy reporter for the Los Angeles Times; and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)
(Olney, "Which Way, L.A.?," KCRW, 10/3). The complete segment is available online in
RealPlayer. 

KPCC's "AirTalk": The segment includes comments from Yaroslavsky (Mantle, "AirTalk,"
KPCC, 10/3). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.

KPCC's "KPCC News": The segment includes comments from Chernof; Gloria Molina, a Los
Angeles County supervisor; Ochoa; Waters; and Yaroslavsky (Myrow, "KPCC News," KPCC,
10/3). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.

KPCC's "KPCC News": The segment includes comments from Harbor-UCLA patients and medical
residents and technicians at King/Drew (Nazario, "KPCC News," KPCC, 10/3). The complete
segment is available online in RealPlayer.

KPCC's "Patt Morrison": The segment includes comments from Earl Ofari Hutchinson, author
and political analyst; Rachael Myrow, reporter for KPCC; and Yaroslavsky (Morrison, "Patt
Morrison," KPCC, 10/3). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.


For more information, including links to the audio reports, please visit:
http://www.californiahealthline.org/index.cfm?Action=dspItem&itemID=125566

----------------

Future of King/Drew Medical Center Considered

Source: California Healthline (http://www.californiahealthline.org)
Date: September 27, 2006


The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is considering two options for Martin Luther
King/Drew University Medical Center in south Los Angeles after it stops receiving federal
funds, the Los Angeles Times reports (Rosenblatt/Ornstein, Los Angeles Times, 9/27).

CMS on Friday notified King/Drew administrators that the facility failed an unannounced
inspection and would lose eligibility to participate in Medicare and Medi-Cal. The
hospital will lose about $200 million -- half of its budget -- in federal funding
annually (California Healthline, 9/25).

King/Drew will not be certified as a Medicare provider after Nov. 30, but the facility
will receive some federal funding for an additional 30 days (Ornstein et al., Los Angeles
Times, 9/26).

After a second day of meetings to discuss the future of King/Drew, supervisors are
focusing on the possibility of transferring administration of the county-owned hospital
to a private entity or another county hospital.

A statement from the department indicated that any plan to maintain services at the
hospital would require it "to be radically restructured." 

A statement by Bruce Chernof, director of the county Department of Health Services, said,
"The department is committed to finding a model that keeps critical inpatient services on
the site." 

Supervisor Gloria Molina said Chernof is scheduled next week to present to the board a
report on options for the facility (Los Angeles Times, 9/27).

The Department of Health Services on Monday began evaluating the capacity of other
hospitals in the area to accommodate patients who would no longer be able to receive
treatment at King/Drew.

The University of California-Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine also on Monday
announced plans for an "orderly transition" of about 50 physician residents from clinical
rotations at King/Drew to hospitals administered by UCLA (Los Angeles Times, 9/26).

The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education on Tuesday asked Charles R. Drew
University of Medicine and Science, which is affiliated with King/Drew, to submit short-
and long-term plans on medical residents' ongoing training, according to ACGME
spokesperson Julie Jacob.

Drew University President Susan Kelly said the university is considering several options,
including arranging for Drew medical residents to work at other hospitals (Los Angeles
Times, 9/27).

Summaries of a recent editorial and two opinion pieces addressing King/Drew are provided
below.

Los Angeles Times: "The best way the county can help the community now is to admit its
failure at King/Drew and allow a more competent party to take it over," a Times editorial
states. Contracting with a private firm to operate the facility "is by far the best
choice," according to the editorial (Los Angeles Times, 9/26). 
Erin Aubry Kaplan, Los Angeles Times: "Problems amassed over 30 years" at King/Drew
"cannot be redressed in two," but the county "should be able to get it together enough to
keep afloat a single 252-bed hospital," Kim writes in a Times opinion piece. "King/Drew
is now closer to the grave than it has ever been" (Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, 9/27). 
Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times: "Although there have no doubt always been good and
dedicated employees fulfilling a noble mission" at King/Drew, it "has long had a rotten
culture of sloth because of civil service protection and weak-kneed politicians who
feared that cracking down would bring cries of racism," Lopez writes in his "Points West"
column in the Times. According to Lopez, King/Drew "is a sinkhole for [county residents']
money" (Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 9/27). 


Several broadcast programs included discussions on the future of King/Drew:

KCET's "Life & Times": The program on Wednesday is scheduled to include an interview with
Charles Ornstein, health policy reporter for the Los Angeles Times (Zavala, "Life &
Times," KCET, 9/27). The complete transcript and audio of the program in RealPlayer will
be available online after the broadcast. 

KCRW's "Which Way, L.A.?": The segment includes comments from Ornstein (Olney, "Which
Way, L.A.?," KCRW, 9/25). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer. 

KPCC's "AirTalk": The segment includes comments from Jim Lott, executive vice president
of the Hospital Association of Southern California; Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald
(D-Calif.); Ornstein; and Zev Yaroslavsky, a Los Angeles County supervisor (Mantle,
"AirTalk," KPCC, 9/25). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer. 

KPCC's "KPCC News": The segment includes comments from Millender-McDonald (Julian, "KPCC
News," KPCC, 9/25). The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer. 

KPCC's "KPCC News": The segment includes comments from Lott; Millender-McDonald;
Antionette Smith Epps, CEO of King/Drew; Princess Sikes, president emeritus of the
Greater Watts-Willowbrook Chamber of Commerce; and Earnest Smith, a pediatric
cardiologist in the area (Myrow, "KPCC News," KPCC, 9/26). The complete segment is
available online in RealPlayer. 

KQED's "The California Report": The segment includes comments from Lott,
Millender-McDonald and Sikes (Myrow, "The California Report," KQED, 9/26). The complete
segment is available online in RealPlayer. 

For more information including links to the audio reports, please visit: 
http://www.californiahealthline.org/index.cfm?Action=dspItem&itemID=125382&classcd=CL350


Cyrus Shahpar & Brian Potts 
Managing Editors, CAL/AAEM News Service
University of California, Irvine

The CAL/AAEM Archives are available at: http://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/public/calaaem/


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