King/Drew patients may be scattered

Patients at Los Angeles-based Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center may be transferred to any of several public and private hospitals in the area as the troubled hospital is restructured. Under plans proposed by county health administrators, who are hoping to keep the facility open and eligible for federal insurance programs, King/Drew will soon be managed by Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The three-year reorganization process will include phasing out specialized medical services such as the pediatric ICU and hiring new employees, according to a story in today's Los Angeles Times. The new Harbor-MLK Community Hospital, which will start with 42 beds and climb to a maximum of 117 by November 2007, will open in March. King/Drew, which has been in difficult financial straits for quite some time, recently failed a CMS inspection and was slated to lose its certification, dooming it to losing roughly half of its income. County administrators are asking CMS to hold off on the decertification, which would cost the facility $200 million as of November 30.

Get more background on the King/Drew situation:
- read this piece in the Los Angeles Times

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