UC Officials Consider Proposal To Help Re-Open South L.A. Hospital
At a meeting with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and South Los Angeles leaders on Tuesday, UC officials committed to consider a proposal to involve the university in reopening Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports.
UC Provost Wyatt Hume said quality of care, financial and legal issues must be considered before UC makes a decision. Since August 2007, King-Harbor has only provided outpatient services.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Burke said the county board of supervisors, which governs King-Harbor, will send their proposal outlining the facility's finances and needs to UC by the end of the week.
Burke said she is confident the university will respond within a week of receiving the proposal.
Last summer, CMS revoked $200 million in federal funding for the hospital after it failed several inspections and was cited for lapses of care.
About 50,000 patients received care at King-Harbor in the last year it operated its emergency department, and the patients have since created crowding issues at other local EDs (Mohajer, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 6/11).