County might close High Desert Hospital

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press March 10, 2001.

By LISA WAHLA
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Los Angeles County health officials may close High Desert Hospital if proposed cost-cutting plans fail.

However, the option to close High Desert and use beds at Antelope Valley Hospital is spurring criticism.

In a letter to county supervisors, Health Services Director Mark Finucane detailed several contingency plans he may ask the board to approve, if other department cost-saving measures prove futile.

The department is trying to save money while facing an $850 million deficit in five years, resulting from the high cost of caring for the uninsured.

"I am proposing that High Desert Hospital be closed and in its place the department significantly expand ambulatory and urgent care services to this community through the South Antelope Valley project," Finucane said in the Feb. 15 letter, referring to the 29,000-square-foot health center under construction in Palmdale.

High Desert Hospital, an 82-bed facility employing approximately 575, is on 60th Street West near Avenue I in Lancaster.

Finucane also proposed purchasing Antelope Valley Hospital patient beds "to continue providing some level of inpatient hospital services to the indigent living in the Antelope Valley."

The suggestions drew fire from AV Hospital officials, union leaders and the office of Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.

"Mike does not support this. He views it as a slash-and-burn approach to addressing the budget shortfall," said Kathryn Barger, health deputy for Antonovich, whose 5th District includes parts of the Antelope Valley. "The easy way out for the director is to recommend closures. The hard part is planning a strategic plan that looks at what the board wants to accomplish."

Finucane did not discuss the bed-purchasing idea with Antelope Valley Hospital's chief executive officer, Mathew Abraham, who said Friday the hospital already has a bed shortage.

"I know nothing about this," Abraham said upon learning of Finucane's letter. "This is an incredible proposal considering we have 21 patients right now waiting for beds. We have no extra beds and we cannot accommodate these patients."

Finucane's representatives met with Service Employees International Union Local 660 for four hours Thursday to defend their five-year strategic plan.

"They're moving so fast that they're not doing the investigation they need to be doing," said one nursing steward.

The nurse said the union called for the meeting to fight for its jobs and to urge the department to find other funding sources, rather than eliminating jobs and medical service.

If High Desert and other facilities are closed, "I don't know where our poor and indigent are going to go," the nurse said. "It really doesn't look good for High Desert."

Finucane, who took over the department in 1996, has been criticized by county supervisors for not budgeting well for the impending crisis.

In December he made it clear that money-saving measures could include layoffs and clinic consolidations - but closures weren't expected to affect the Antelope Valley, where the uninsured have few medical options.

Finucane will update supervisors in upcoming weeks on current cost-cutting measures, including the layoffs and consolidations. At that point he also may ask supervisors about "reconfiguring" health service in the Antelope Valley.

According to the letter, the Antelope Valley portion of the contingency plan would save the county $10 million to $15 million.

But the Valley plan's feasibility is already being questioned.

"To impose an additional burden to existing providers would be a disservice to the community," Abraham said.

Antonovich's aide said that the Antelope Valley is in a unique situation, considering its distance from other county facilities.

"It's not like the San Gabriel Valley or the South Bay," Barger said. "You don't have a lot of facilities in that area that can pick up the slack."

Barger said that if a big earthquake strikes and the Antelope Valley Freeway closes, local medical services for the Antelope Valley's uninsured are essential.

That was what happened after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, when a portion of the AV Freeway was closed after sustaining substantial damage.

"We'd caution the department to look at health care delivery in the Antelope Valley in a unique fashion," she said.

When the Health Department faced financial crisis in the mid-1990s, officials proposed privatizing High Desert. Those plans fell through.

To ease the current fiscal dilemma, the department received a $900 million federal waiver last summer that will provide funding through 2005.

But major changes likely will be coming, said John Wallace, a Health Services Department spokesman. To increase efficiency, the department is putting a major effort into reducing emergency room visits and prolonged hospital stays in favor of outpatient care and prevention.

Clinic closures will likely take place in urban areas where private medical clinics are accessible, Wallace said Friday. The department is looking at a 10% reduction in staff over five years, totaling about 1,800 positions.