According to the Los Angeles Times, hospital leaders said Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital (MLKCH) may run out of money to pay for bills as soon as 2024. The alternative healthcare option available is St. Francis Medical Center (SFMC) in Lynwood.
MLKCH is a non-profit organization that was set to replace the closed King/Drew Medical Center which closed in 2007 after reports of medical failures and mistreatment.
According to the L.A. Times, the hospital currently has a budget of $375 million, half of which is funded by billing from Medi-Cal and other payers, such as commercial health insurance plans, for its services.
One of the main reasons that MLKCH is closing is that it has had to endure four times the demand as expected, even though the Medi-Cal program does not fully cover the cost of emergency services.
Also in the Times report, hospital officials stated MLKCH was expected to handle 25,000 emergency department visits a year. However, last year, the 29 rooms tallied more than 100,000 visits – four times what they projected.
Some patients, like 20-year-old California State University, Los Angeles student and South L.A. resident Marina Gomez, are unsatisfied with the care provided by MLKCH.
Gomez first visited MLKCH’s emergency department after she fractured her ankle while dancing when she was 14 years old. Both of Gomez’s parents are deaf, which she said the hospital did not accommodate during her visit.
“I was translating and they didn’t give me enough time to translate. I was very annoyed, I know there’s a lot of people out here, but right now your focus should be on me, the patient, instead of being angry because I can’t translate fast enough,” Gomez said.
Gomez visited the hospital again on November 8 when she obtained a concussion after falling down the stairs.
“I’m the one that’s in pretty bad shape and they’re worried about the communication with my guardian and like, I’m fully conscious,” Gomez said.
When asked how she would feel about going to the SFMC, Gomez was not enthused.
“It’s private owned, that already sounds like a big expense to my wallet … if I had to choose I wouldn’t do that. It would not be my first option,” Gomez said.
In a statement to Annenberg Media, SFMC stated the issues facing MLKCH are “indicative of the growing challenges in the healthcare industry as a whole, and the unique challenges we face in the South and Southeast Los Angeles area,” and that they are “committed to preserving access to healthcare for the communities we serve, to maintaining high standards of quality care, and to ensuring the long-term viability and vitality of the core services we provide to our community.”
The statement mentioned that SFMC was one of the “largest and busiest private Emergency Departments/Trauma Centers in L.A. County.”
“In fiscal year 2022, St. Francis Medical Center treated 59,697 emergency patients and 2,016 trauma patients,” they added.
The statement also wrote that the issues facing the MLK Hospital are “indicative of the growing challenges in the healthcare industry as a whole, and the unique challenges we face in the South and Southeast Los Angeles area.”
SFMC recognized that there are “key issues that County and State leaders must address to help reduce the healthcare disparities in our communities,” including shrinking reimbursement to hospitals particularly for poor and uninsured/underinsured families.
”In keeping with our 77-year legacy, St. Francis is committed to preserving access to healthcare for the communities we serve, to maintaining high standards of quality care, and to ensuring the long-term viability and vitality of the core services we provide to our community,” the statement added.
MLKCH posted a statement to Facebook about the L.A. Times article and the possibility of running out of funding.
“We need everyone who cares about South L.A. to work together to ensure that MLKCH can continue to serve our wonderful community. That means redefining a funding model to account for the increasing demand for our services, soaring costs, workforce shortages, and more. We have strong support from policymakers and a demonstrated track record of success. We are confident that, despite the difficult short-term outlook, we will weather this storm,” the post read.