$500,000 HOSPITAL REWARD CITY ASKS DISTRICT FOR EAST PALMDALE FACILITY.Byline: Jim Skeen Do you mean:
PALMDALE - The city is offering $500,000 to the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley Hospital District if it will build a hospital in east Palmdale. With one hospital in development, city officials said they are making the offer to expedite ex·pe·dite tr.v. ex·pe·dit·ed, ex·pe·dit·ing, ex·pe·dites 1. To speed up the progress of; accelerate. 2. the construction of a second to meet rapid population growth. City officials said while they are making an offer to the hospital district, they will look at other parties that might be interested in such a project. ``We stand ready to assist an entity that is serious about building a second facility,'' said Mayor Jim Ledford. ``If they (hospital district officials) don't move, they could be totally shut out of the south valley market.'' Approved at Monday night's council meeting, the offer is aimed at fully developing a site at Palmdale Boulevard and 40th Street East where the hospital district built a clinic. The city invested $1 million in road work and other improvements to assist with that clinic's development - a project envisioned as the first phase of a medical center. ``If I had my choice, I want Antelope Valley Hospital to build on land they already own,'' said Councilman Mike Dispenza. ``I'm not interested in anyone else coming in until the hospital district says they have no intention of building a hospital.'' In a letter to the city, the hospital district's chief executive officer, Les Wong, questioned the sincerity of the offer. Wong said the hospital was not given proper time to evaluate the offer. Hospital district officials, who have been exchanging criticism with city officials over the city's financial help for the Universal Health Services Universal Health Services, Inc. NYSE: UHS is a Fortune 500 company based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. This company is one of the nation's largest health care management companies, operating acute care hospitals, behavioral health facilities and ambulatory centers hospital now under construction, did not attend the City Council meeting at which the offer was approved. ``It is apparent to me that the proposed resolution is a poorly disguised dis·guise tr.v. dis·guised, dis·guis·ing, dis·guis·es 1. a. To modify the manner or appearance of in order to prevent recognition. b. To furnish with a disguise. 2. attempt to deflect de·flect intr. & tr.v. de·flect·ed, de·flect·ing, de·flects To turn aside or cause to turn aside; bend or deviate. [Latin d continued legitimate criticism of the city's plans to subsidize sub·si·dize tr.v. sub·si·dized, sub·si·diz·ing, sub·si·diz·es 1. To assist or support with a subsidy. 2. To secure the assistance of by granting a subsidy. construction of a private health care facility on the west side of Palmdale without instituting sufficient public controls to assure that the new hospital is open to a majority of the Palmdale population, including beneficiaries of the state's Medi-Cal health care program for the poor,'' Wong wrote. The hospital district had asked the City Council to impose a condition on Universal Health Services to require it to enter into a Medi-Cal service contract for the hospital being built on Tierra Subida south of Palmdale Boulevard. Without such a contract, the new hospital will not serve a large percentage of the city's population. ``The fact that your City Council has chosen for almost four years to ignore this critical issue of access to the new Palmdale facility for all residents in need of health care, regardless of their income status, only serves to highlight that the proposed gift of public property (valued at $9.3 million) to Universal Health Services is highly suspect, from a legal, social and public policy perspective.'' City officials rejected the call to require a Medi-Cal contract for the new hospital, saying it is inappropriate to attempt to insert such a requirement into an agreement approved five years ago. Universal officials said they are looking into acquiring a Medi-Cal contract. Councilman Richard Loa suggested that such a Medi-Cal contract requirement could be part of an agreement on a facility on the east side. The hospital and the city have been exchanging letters and legal filings since the district made an offer to acquire the Tierra Subida site where Universal Health Services is developing an $82 million medical center. City officials view that offer as a precursor precursor /pre·cur·sor/ (pre´kur-ser) something that precedes. In biological processes, a substance from which another, usually more active or mature, substance is formed. In clinical medicine, a sign or symptom that heralds another. by the district to use eminent domain eminent domain, the right of a government to force the owner of private property sell it if it is needed for a public use. The right is based on the doctrine that a sovereign state has dominion over all lands and buildings within its borders, which has its origins in to block the hospital. Hospital officials counter that they are not actively pursuing eminent domain and that they are willing to work with the UHS UHS University Health Services UHS Universal Hint System (gamingy) UHS University High School UHS Urbana High School UHS University High School (Australia) UHS Union High School hospital - provided that they entered into the Medi-Cal contract. Wong's letter to the city states that the district is committed to blocking a two-tier health care Two-tier health care is a form of national health care system that is used in most developed countries. It is a system in which a guaranteed public health care system exists, but where a private system operates in parallel. system. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com |
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