BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1303
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Dave Jones, Chair
AB 1303 (Hall) - As Amended: April 14, 2009
SUBJECT : Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital: reopening plan:
working group.
SUMMARY : Directs the Department of Public Health (DPH) to
convene a working group of stakeholders to assist in the
reopening of Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Hospital in Los
Angeles. Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies that the working group include, but not be limited
to: representatives of DPH, the Los Angeles Board of
Supervisors, the Regents of the University of California (UC)
and other parties deemed necessary to facilitate the reopening
plan.
2)Directs the working group to review and examine issues
relating to the MLK hospital reopening including consideration
of the following:
a) Clarification of the respective roles of Los Angeles
County (County) and the Regents;
b) Selection of a suitable nonprofit entity to manage
day-to-day operations of the hospital, pursuant to a
contract with UC and Los Angeles County;
c) Secure appropriate funding, including making
recommendations to the Legislature for necessary statutory
changes; and,
d) Develop a MLK hospital teaching component.
3)Requires the working group to prepare a report of its findings
and recommendations.
4)States the findings and declarations of the Legislature
concerning the need for special legislation.
EXISTING LAW provides for the licensure of health facilities,
including acute care hospitals and special hospitals by DPH.
AB 1303
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FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has not yet been reviewed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)PURPOSE OF THE BILL. According to the author, a stakeholder
board as proposed in this bill may provide valuable assistance
and support for the re-establishment of MLK Hospital. The
tentative agreement recently announced by the UC and the
County, notes the author, has yet to be fully developed, and
an additional venue for discussion might help resolve the very
complex and difficult arrangements yet remaining before
reopening this critical facility.
2)BACKGROUND . The County and the UC recently announced they
have made considerable progress on a tentative agreement which
could lead to the reopening of MLK hospital in the
Willowbrook/Watts area of Los Angeles. For over 35 years,
according to the author, MLK Hospital provided trauma,
surgery, emergency, and obstetric care to the 1.6 million
residents of South Central Los Angeles. The hospital served
as one of the largest public and teaching hospitals in the
state, providing both critical medical care and physician
training programs through the Charles Drew University of
Medicine. Inpatient services at the hospital, as reported in
the Los Angeles Times, were shut down in August of 2007 after
years of high profile cases of inadequate care, including
errors causing multiple deaths. For almost two years,
according to the Times , the community of South Central Los
Angeles has been without a Tier I Trauma center which has
required trauma patients to be transported long distances and
state and county officials to expend more than $100 million
for surrounding hospitals treating South Central residents.
The Times further notes that the South Central community is
severely medically underserved. South Central has one
hospital bed per 1,000 residents while the national average is
three beds per 1,000 residents. In South Central, more people
die of lung cancer, stroke, diabetes, and heart disease than
in any other place in Los Angeles County.
UC reports that the County and UC have agreed the re-opened
hospital will: a) Serve as a safety net hospital treating a
high volume of Medi-Cal and uninsured patients; b) Integrate
hospital inpatient services with the County's existing network
AB 1303
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of clinics; and, c) Optimize both public and private funding
resources. As described by UC, the new facility will have
only about one half the beds (120) of the former hospital
(233) but would provide emergency services. The hospital will
be operated by a new and independent private non-profit
organization which will hold the hospital license and manage
day to day operations. UC has stated that it expects to enter
a contractual agreement with the non-profit operator to
provide medical quality assurance and physician services. The
reorganized hospital is expected to open in 2012 using only a
portion of the existing campus. The non-profit operator,
according to the Times, has not yet been selected.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : John D. Miller / HEALTH / (916)
319-2097