Profession
L.A. County teaching hospital closing
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 3, 2007
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors announced Aug. 15 it will shutter Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital -- once known as Martin Luther King Jr./Charles R. Drew Medical Center -- after it failed an unannounced July federal inspection.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services survey team found that the hospital did not meet eight out of 23 accreditation standards. County officials closed the hospital's emergency department Aug. 10 and began shutting down inpatient services. The county has promised to pay up to $16.3 million to nearby private hospitals as they absorb the largely uninsured population the hospital treated. Without the CMS contract, $200 million a year, the county said it no longer could afford to operate the hospital.
King-Harbor failed a CMS inspection in fall 2006, resulting in the loss of federal funding for its 15 residencies and 290 residents. All of the programs closed by July 1.
James L. Kyle II, MD,cq vice president for strategic development at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Sciencecq, said the school is actively seeking hospitals where it could re-establish up to five resident programs starting in 2010.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/09/03/prbf0903.htm.