The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to ratify an agreement with the University of California to reopen Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in Willowbrook. (Photo by Gary McCarthy)
Story Created:
Dec 1, 2009 at 2:09 PM PST
Story Updated:
Dec 1, 2009 at 2:09 PM PST
The county Board of Supervisors Tuesday ratified a pact with the University of California Board of Regents to reopen Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital, which was closed in 2007 after failing a series of federal inspections.
Under the arrangement, UC will provide the physician staff and develop a graduate medical training program while the county will contribute financially to the facility.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas — who made reopening MLK one of his top priorities when he was sworn into office exactly one year ago — thanked the rest of the board and county staffers for their efforts in pushing the agreement forward.
The plan, which was approved by the UC regents Nov. 19, envisions reopening the hospital as a 120-bed facility in late 2012, housed in a new seismically compliant patient tower.
An emergency department, housed in a yet-to-be-built adjacent building, would be opened in 2013, followed by an ambulatory care center to be opened in 2014.
County officials said the construction costs would be about $391 million, less than attempting to seismically retrofit the old MLK-Harbor Hospital building. County administrators said the cost of retrofitting the building could exceed $416 million.
UC would not be responsible for any of the construction or operating costs of the hospital. The plan adopted by the Board of Regents also asks for a $100 million letter of credit to limit its financial liability.
The county estimated the new facility would cost about $168 million a year to run. It was expected to pay about 30 percent of those costs, with the balance coming from federal and state reimbursements.
The hospital would be run by an independent nonprofit organization overseen by a seven-member board of directors — including two members chosen by the county, two by the university and three jointly by the county and university. Once established, the board would hire a private operator to provide administrative services for the hospital.
Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center, a full-service teaching hospital built after the 1965 Watts riots, lost its accreditation due to a series of life-threatening mistakes made by employees. It was then renamed and merged with county-run Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in an attempt to save its federal funding.
But after the medical center failed a final “make-or-break” inspection by federal regulators, the hospital was closed in August 2007 and turned into a county-run walk-in clinic.
The board unanimously ratified the agreement with the Board of Regents and gave the county’s chief executive officer authority to negotiate specifics of an operating plan.
The CEO plans to return to the board in 30 days with recommendations for implementing the agreement, including a process for selecting the hospital’s board members.
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