Inglewood Hospital to Disband ER
Centinela Freeman HealthSystem announced Tuesday that it will close the emergency room at Memorial hospital in Inglewood, a move that critics warn would further strain Los Angeles County's frail emergency care system.
Beginning in November, patients would be shifted to the facility's sister campus, Centinela hospital, about 1 1/2 miles away, as part of a consolidation plan aimed at reducing costs. To increase access to care, plans also call for a 24-hour urgent care clinic to open at Memorial and another at Centinela hospital.
Memorial, formerly known as Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, treated about 38,000 patients in its emergency room last year.
But health system President and Chief Executive Michael A. Rembis said that more than 60% of those patients had non-emergency conditions -- such as earaches, respiratory infections or other minor ailments. In a community with a high number of uninsured people, that places a huge burden on the hospital, Rembis said.
"Because people don't have access to their own primary-care physician, they're using our emergency room," said Rembis, whose health system is losing $30 million a year. "We need to find a better way to provide care."
In Los Angeles County, the average emergency room visit costs $380, while an urgent care visit costs about $50, according to the Hospital Assn. of Southern California. Rembis said the health system would also be working with low-cost clinics to handle those patients who could not pay for urgent care.
But some critics said the closure -- the 10th in the county in the last five years -- would further jeopardize emergency care in one of the city's most densely populated areas.
"They're closing their doors and saying we're not going to see the uninsured," said Lark Galloway-Gilliam, director of the Community Health Council, a health advocacy organization in South Los Angeles.
Carol Meyer, director of Los Angeles County's Emergency Medical Services Agency, said she is concerned that Centinela's emergency room will be overwhelmed.
She said that the public has been taught to go to the emergency room if they have a problem, particularly after hours, and retraining them will be a difficult task.
"We've programmed the public," Meyer said. "We have created our own monster."
Data submitted by Memorial to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development showed that Memorial treated 16,000 patients last year that it characterized as "severe," representing about 42% of all emergency room patients.
