PRIVATE HOSPITALS PROTEST PROPOSAL; COUNTY MAY LIMIT TRANSFERS OF POOR.Byline: Douglas Haberman Daily News Staff Writer The countywide hospital trauma system A Trauma System is an organized and coordinated plan within a region that delivers the full range of care to injured patients. It often consists of a trauma center that provides a higher level of specialty care. External link
On Monday, David Janssen, the county's chief administrative officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is responsible for administrative management of private, public or governmental corporations. The CAO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, managing daily operations and usually reporting directly to the chief executive , issued a proposed $14.4 billion budget including a new restriction on patient transfers that he said would save the county $5 million a year. The proposal would take 87 county hospital beds out of service, which Janssen said would save $5 million a year. He estimated the policy would affect 3,200 patients a year at most. But Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Healthcare Association of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , an organization representing hospitals and physicians groups, said the proposal could drive physician specialists, such as neurosurgeons, out of emergency rooms and trauma centers trauma center n. A medical facility that is designated to treat severe physical trauma as a result of the specialized training of its staff and the availability of appropriate diagnostic and treatment tools. by forcing them to care at length for patients who are uninsured or unable to pay for their care. ``This isn't a case of crying wolf,'' said Lott. Caring for those patients would cut into the doctors' income, removing the incentive for them to be on call at hospital emergency rooms, he said. If doctors stopped participating, that would threaten a countywide trauma system already made fragile by the health care industry's sweeping changes over the last 15 years, Lott said. In Los Angeles County, where one-third of all emergency room patients are uninsured, 31 hospitals have closed their emergency rooms since 1985, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. industry figures. Janssen said the county is trying to work out a way ``to make it as painless pain·less adj. Free from complication or pain: a painless operation. pain  less·ly adv. as possible.'' Negotiations still must take place
between the county and private hospital representatives, Janssen said.
As required by law, the county will continue to accept trauma patients who need specialized care that it can provide and private hospitals cannot, Janssen said. Lott questioned the county's forecast of the effect of the proposed change and warned it would be graver for private hospitals than county officials predict. The association is calling on the county to conduct a study of the probable effect before implementing the policy change. ``It will be a penny-wise, pound-foolish solution,'' Lott said about the policy proposal. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion