COUNTY FACING 'SEVERE CRISIS' CLOSINGS, CUTBACKS PUT HEALTH OF MILLIONS AT RISK, ASSEMBLYMAN WARNS.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

State Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Granada Hills, will ask Gov. Gray Davis today to call a special session of the Legislature to address Los Angeles County's health care crisis.

``As you know from news accounts and policy meetings, Los Angeles County's health care network faces a severe crisis,'' Richman, a physician, wrote in a letter to Davis. ``Left unresolved, the county's financial plight not only threatens the health of millions of low-income residents who depend upon it for care, (but) it also puts a heavy strain on Southern California's private health care system.''

Davis' spokesman Byron Tucker said the governor was open to calling a special session in January that would run concurrently with the start of the regular session.

The spokesman said Davis asked county Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina at a recent meeting to work with his staff to develop proposals by Nov. 15 to address the health care crisis.

``The governor also indicated he would be willing to meet again with the supervisors and interested parties around the same time,'' Tucker said.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors is expected to vote whether to close Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance as part of the second phase of cuts to reduce the county's $404 million health deficit.

County Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen said he had hoped that state and federal officials would give the county some idea last Friday whether more funding would be available, but no discussions occurred.

Tom Scully, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, planned to visit the county to assess the health crisis on Nov. 6, a day after voters decide whether to pass Measure B - a parcel tax that would raise $168 million a year for the county's trauma centers, emergency rooms and terrorism preparations.

Scully has asked the supervisors to postpone Tuesday's vote so that his staff could have more time to review the county's request for a $1.4 billion federal Medicaid waiver.

Richman, a candidate for San Fernando Valley mayor, said hospitals throughout the county are in deep financial distress, emergency rooms are closing and the trauma system is on the brink of collapse.

So far, the county has closed 11 health clinics.

``The result of this reduction in access to care is longer lines at remaining facilities; cost shifting to already burdened private payers; and avoidable pain and suffering,'' Richman said. ``It is likely that, because of these actions, patients will die unnecessarily.''

At the core of the crisis is the extraordinary cost of treating the county's uninsured residents, numbering more than 2 million.

Richman said any serious effort to address the county's health crisis must include a comprehensive look at expanding the coverage of state- sponsored health insurance.

``I am working with a bipartisan group of state legislators and federal officials to develop a program to expand coverage using badly needed federal matching funds,'' Richman said.

The Board of Supervisors will vote whether to close the hospitals at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, 500 W. Temple St., Room 381B, in downtown Los Angeles.