Should the King- Harbor Community Hospital be closed?

Below is the motion which will result in closure of the hospital in a largely Latino Community. The hospital has had numerous quality of care and patient safety issues. What is the impact on our Latino Community?

MOTION
Molina ____________________________
Burke ____________________________
Knabe ____________________________
Antonovich ____________________________
Yaroslavsky ____________________________
AGN. NO.
MOTION BY SUPERVISOR GLORIA MOLINA June 12, 2007
On Thursday evening June 7, 2007, this Board learned that MLK-Harbor Hospital had been found by federal investigators to have committed numerous violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) by placing emergency room patients in “immediate jeopardy” of harm or death. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have given the hospital 23 days to correct these problems or face immediate termination of federal funds. This is the fourth time this hospital has been found to pose an “immediate jeopardy” to patients.
Over many years, this Board has invested millions of dollars in reforming this hospital. At the insistence of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, we hired Navigant Consulting to completely reengineer services at the hospital. Over 600 MLK-Harbor staff have resigned or been fired due to increased scrutiny and strict accountability standards. After the most recent hospital certification failure, the residency program was eliminated, staff was reassigned, the hospital was downsized, and every single person who sought to work at MLK-Harbor, beginning with the CEO, had to go through a re-interview and are now being re-tested and re-trained consistent with state and federal standards. And still we fail.
While we cannot explain the reasons for this monumental failure of policies, systems, and human compassion at the hospital, we cannot ignore it; we must take immediate steps to safeguard the health and safety of its patients. This Board must commit to doing everything possible to protect access to health care services in this area-no matter what the future may hold for MLK-Harbor.
I, THEREFORE, MOVE that this Board:
1. Require the Department of Health Services Director to present a full report on the recent state and federal investigations of MLK-Harbor Hospital including status, process, next steps, and potential implications of the findings at the June12, 2007 public Board meeting; and
2. Direct the Department of Health Services to present contingency plans for discussion at the June 12, 2007 public Board meeting that ensure this County’s continued provision of appropriate health care services to the community in the event that MLK-Harbor is unsuccessful in meeting federal standards within the designated timeframe; and
3. Direct the Department of Health Services in collaboration with the CAO to develop a plan for presentation at the June 19, 2007 public Board meeting that will immediately begin diverting patients from MLK-Harbor Hospital to appropriate health care facilities in either the surrounding community or in the County’s other public hospitals. The goal of this plan should be to minimize disruption in access to or quality of health care received by community residents.
MJ/sf