As county officials grapple with how to provide adequate health care in the face of a mammoth budget gap, two recent reports indicate that private hospitals and physicians cannot be counted on to care for the poor.

One study, conducted in June by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, reveals that the closure of High Desert Hospital in Lancaster would create possible life-threatening health care shortages in the remote area.

A second health department report predicts increased waiting times at surviving county hospitals and clinics that proposed closures and cutbacks would bring--including six-month waits at Olive View/UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, where most of High Desert's patients would be sent.

Health department officials believe that scenario would be repeated throughout the county if one or more of its six public hospitals is closed.

"Unfortunately, the situation in the Antelope Valley gives you a microcosm of the situation all over the county," said Walter Gray, the health department's assistant director. "In every area, there will be not enough access, not enough people to care for the indigent."

As part of an effort to reduce a $655-million deficit in the county health department, High Desert and three other public hospitals are on one proposed closure list, while County/USC Medical Center is on another.

Closing High Desert alone would save the cash-strapped county $35 million, and eliminate 629 jobs at the hospital.

Although county Chief Administrative Officer Sally Reed favors closing County/USC, a specially appointed health task force is now reassessing the situation--in effect, starting the process of deciding what to cut all over again.

As part of its evaluation, the task force is looking at the health department's High Desert report, which looked into whether the area's three private hospitals might pick up some of the slack if High Desert closed. The three are only operating at about 50% of their capacity, a rate typical for many private hospitals in the county.

But all three--Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center, Lancaster Community Hospital and Desert Palms Community Hospital--said they would not care for any of the county hospital's poorest patients, except in emergencies, as required by law.

Only Antelope Valley Hospital agreed to accept new Medi-Cal patients--those low-income people covered by the state's public medical insurance. Antelope Valley Hospital is the only one of the three that has a contract with the state to provide Medi-Cal services.