Nearly two dozen private hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties, accounting for up to 15% of beds in the region, are in dire financial straits and in danger of bankruptcy or closure, according to hospital administrators, industry experts and state data.
The troublesome development follows the closure of community clinics and hospitals in recent years that has left the healthcare system seriously overburdened.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, October 07, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 42 words Type of Material: Correction
Hospital finances: An article in Section A on Sept. 23 about the financial peril facing a growing number of Southern California hospitals said Downey Regional Medical Center treated 70 trauma patients during one day last month. The hospital treated 70 emergency-room patients.
If even a few other hospitals close or reduce costly critical-care services, it could mean longer ambulance rides to hospitals, additional delays in emergency rooms and less access to care, especially for poor and uninsured people.
Among the hospitals in poor financial health, according to industry analysts, are Downey Regional Medical Center, Centinela Freeman Health System in Inglewood, Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, Century City Doctors Hospital and four Orange County hospitals owned by Santa Ana-based Integrated Healthcare Holdings Inc. including Chapman Medical Center in Orange and Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, one of three trauma centers in the county.
In interviews, senior executives at Centinela and Downey said they were considering closing their emergency rooms. Downey's chief operating officer, Rob Fuller, added that his hospital could close entirely as early as next year if its financial picture didn't improve soon.
"It's fasten your seat belt it's going to be a bumpy ride time," said James Lott, executive vice president of the Hospital Assn. of Southern California, a trade association.
The financial woes result from a multitude of developments:
* An increasing load of uninsured and low-income patients has resulted from overcrowding and the shutdown of public facilities. The number of uninsured patients visiting private hospitals, particularly in poor areas, has increased by one-third in Los Angeles County since 2002. California's Medi-Cal program for the poor reimburses hospitals at one of the lowest rates in the country.
* The closure of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in Willowbrook last month left half a dozen nearby hospitals to absorb most of the 47,000 patients who used the public hospital's emergency room last year.
* Smaller community hospitals are drawing fewer patients as a few larger facilities attract a growing share of doctors and insured patients.
