LONG BEACH: Coalition Selected to Run Community Medical Center

      After fighting against the closure of Long Beach Community Medical Center, the Save Our Neighborhood Hospital Committee, a group of local doctors and residents, has been "tentatively" selected to operate the facility, the Los Angeles Times reports. Citing operating losses, not-for-profit Catholic Healthcare West announced in June its plans to close the medical center, but the coalition fought "so bitterly" that CHW turned the facility over to the city so a new operator could be found. The coalition was one of five groups that submitted bids to the city to run the hospital. After a meeting Monday, six senior Long Beach officials selected the committee to run the hospital as no other "contender was as serious." Closed on Sept. 29, the hospital will downsize from 278 beds to 75 beds before reopening. Cal State Long Beach and Long Beach City College will operate the facility's tower for nursing training, a move that is expected to cut the coalition's $20.3 million seismic retrofitting costs. Lease negotiations between the city and the coalition could begin as early as today, according to Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill (Los Angeles Times, 10/11).