GOVERNMENTED closures spur worries of care crisis in L.A.Backers of a tax initiative say it could ease the burden on hospitals.By Katherine Vogt, amednews staff. Sept. 20, 2004. The loss of a sixth hospital emergency department in the Los Angeles area in less than 14 months is evidence that a crisis is brewing that ultimately could deny emergency care to thousands of patients in the region and statewide, some health care officials say. Northridge Hospital Medical Center's Sherman Way Campus in Van Nuys, the oldest hospital in the Los Angeles Valley, announced Aug. 19 that it would close. The news came just days after Elastar Community Hospital in East Los Angeles shut its doors. They are among the growing number of hospitals in the area that have decided to close or curtail services, threatening to leave gaps in emergency coverage. The trend is the result of several factors, including California's high number of uninsured residents, its low Medi-Cal reimbursement rates, and unfunded mandates requiring some hospitals to spend millions of dollars on nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and structural retrofitting to meet seismic standards, observers say. They worry that the Los Angeles shutdowns are a harbinger of what is to come in other communities in the state. "We're hitting a convergence of forces that have been at work for several years. It is becoming impossible for more and more hospitals to keep their doors open," said Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the California Healthcare Assn., a statewide hospital organization. "We are truly at a meltdown point." In response, the California Medical Assn. and several other health care professional organizations are supporting a November ballot measure that they believe will provide immediate relief. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2004 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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The doctors are in the house
The AMA's House of Delegates is holding its Interim Meeting Nov. 7-10 in Houston, addressing issues such as health system reform and physician payment. Meeting coverage - Slideshow Feature articlesHealth reform review The Massachusetts experience Litigation stress Being sued is personal as well as professional Comprehensive coverage
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