RESCUE BILLS AIM TO STABILIZE ERS.

Byline: Steve Geissinger Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - Los Angeles and San Francisco lawmakers unveiled a package of bills Wednesday designed to stabilize failing emergency rooms, but conceded it's just a bandage to keep the system from ``bleeding out'' until they find a real fiscal cure.

Democratic Sens. Richard Alarcon of Van Nuys and Gloria Romero of Los Angeles joined four other legislators in introducing bills aimed at generating more federal money for ER physicians.

The legislation also would streamline various payments and allocations; improve regional planning and coordination; keep patients out of billing battles between physicians and medical plans; and require hospitals that close their ERs to provide additional public notice.

``Communities shouldn't be caught off guard with a hospital or emergency room closure,'' said Alarcon. ``State and local agencies and community groups need ample time to find out if anything can be done to keep emergency room and hospital doors open, to find alternative buyers and intervene on behalf of those who will suffer.''

``The (ER) health care system is crumbling,'' said Irv Edwards of the Chino Valley Medical Center, the president-elect of the California chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Recent ER closures in the San Fernando Valley area have dramatically increased the loads at nearby hospitals, leading to ``bad medicine,'' Edwards said.

The cash-strapped ER system, overwhelmed with patients who often cannot pay because they do not have insurance, is in danger of ``bleeding out'' fiscally, said Roneet Lev of Mercy Hospital in San Diego.

Republican lawmakers, GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the hospital industry and health insurers declined immediate response until they look at the bills. Broader bills in the Democrat-dominated Legislature, seeking to overhaul the health care system, have fostered heated debates in the past.

Steve Geissinger, [phone]

sgeissinger(at)angnewspapers.com