Legislature OKs bill to assist new South Los Angeles area hospital

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

State lawmakers approved a measure Wednesday to help finance operation of a new private hospital to serve residents of the South Los Angeles area, which has been without a hospital since the closing of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital.

The Senate approved legislation that would guarantee that the new hospital in Willowbrook, south of Watts, would be reimbursed for Medi-Cal inpatient services at 60% of cost. Republicans objected, saying that reimbursement rate is higher than what is provided to other hospitals in the state that serve large populations of Medi-Cal patients.

‘It’s not a bill that is fair,’ said Sen. Sam Aanestad (R-Grass Valley). ‘This bill asks for preferential treatment to an entity that has been under fire for years for fiscal mismanagement.’

Sen. Curren Price Jr. (D-Inglewood) noted that the new hospital would be privately run and involve different people from those who were behind King-Harbor. The bill puts into law an agreement between the University of California, Los Angeles County and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that sets up a private, nonprofit hospital in Willowbrook.

‘The new hospital will alleviate the pressure from the surrounding hospitals that have been treating those patients since MLK closed in 2007,’ Price said. ‘AB 2599 will provide a critically needed hospital in an underserved area of south Los Angeles County.’’

--Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento