RIORDAN OPPOSES HEALTH CUTS CONSEQUENCES CALLED TOO GRIM TO THINK ABOUT.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Former Mayor Richard Riordan joined a group of doctors, nurses and ministers Tuesday in criticizing a budget-balancing plan the county supervisors will consider today that calls for deep cuts in public health clinics and hospitals.

Riordan, speaking at a rally outside the Board of Supervisors hearing room in downtown Los Angeles, said local governments did belt-tightening in other parts of the nation without such devastating cuts, and he and others urged the supervisors to postpone a decision on the proposal.

``We cannot afford to gut our public health care system because the consequences are too terrible to contemplate,'' Riordan said. ``In the post- Sept. 11 environment, the county health care system is an integral part of our first line of civil defense.''

Mayor James Hahn, in a statement read at the rally, joined Riordan in urging the county supervisors to postpone their decision today to begin cutting health services by closing 11 clinics, eliminating school-based clinics and converting High Desert Hospital in Palmdale to an outpatient facility.

``I am concerned about the proposed cuts to Los Angeles County health services, and I join with those who are requesting that the county convene a new panel of top health policy and funding experts, along with key community representatives, to search for better solutions,'' Hahn said in the statement.

The cuts, the largest since a similar crisis in 1995, are the first steps county officials plan to take to close a projected deficit of $800 million by 2005-06. If county officials are unable to convince federal and state officials to give them more money, the supervisors plan more drastic cuts in October, which may include converting UCLA-Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar to an outpatient facility and closing its emergency room.

The supervisors will meet at 9:30 a.m. today at 500 W. Temple St. in downtown Los Angeles to hear a presentation of policy options related to the redesign of health care services in the county.

To start to close the gap, the health department has provided the supervisors with a report outlining three different scenarios. The Antelope Valley is particularly hard hit, with major reductions to High Desert Hospital in Palmdale.

Officials with the Coalition for Healthy Communities - representing county residents, religious leaders, unions, health care providers and others - say the county should consider actions like those taken in Cook County, Ill., which had a similar crisis several years ago.

Chris Jennings, former domestic adviser on health policy to President Clinton, said the county could use its $116 million in year-end surplus funds and $172 million in tobacco settlement monies to avoid cuts.

``In Cook County, they actually increased revenues as well as made a lot of changes in the delivery system,'' Jennings said. ``They downsized hospitals, but filled up community-based health centers and retrained health employees who were delivering services in institutional settings.

``This proposal just squeezes the cuts side without looking at the revenue side.''

Riordan said he would need more time to evaluate a proposal for the state to take over the system in the nation's most populous county.

``The bottom line is that the county puts up a very tiny percentage of the health care out of its own pocket ... so to have the governmental body that puts the least amount of money responsible for delivering the health care doesn't make much sense,'' Riordan said.

In a related matter, the county supervisors voted Tuesday to send letters to the governor and state lawmakers urging the passage of the Emergency Medical Services and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Act of 2002.

The act, sponsored by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Rosemead, would help relieve the costs of providing emergency and trauma hospital services for alcohol-related injuries.

The act would raise $700 million a year by charging alcohol companies that distribute alcohol in California a 5-cent fee per alcoholic beverage.