Los Angeles News

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― County authorities will shut down the emergency room and all in-patient services at troubled Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital if the facility fails an upcoming federal inspection, county supervisors and health officials said Tuesday.

The unannounced inspection by representatives of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could take place this week, local authorities said. CMS officials have said they will perform their survey before Aug. 15.

County officials say they would need 60 to 90 days to shutter operations at MLK, using some of the time to open more beds at other county hospitals and hold state-mandated hearings.

Dr. Bruce Chernof, county health director, said he would ask the state to voluntarily suspend the hospital's license sooner than 60 to 90s days if the facility is deemed unsafe.

"I don't believe we should continue to keep the hospital open if we can't pass the survey," Chernof said.

"The more orderly the next step is, the better, because it is not just patient safety at the facility, but it's patient safety in implementing the new model and getting patients to other sites of care, it's about the safety of the transition as well."

Voluntarily suspending the license would allow a new operator to take over MLK-Harbor without having to upgrade the building to meet seismic requirements, Chernof said.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky expressed concern that the hospital would not close quickly enough, and the county would be left footing the bill for a facility where patients receive substandard care.

"I think that if you're going to make a clean break ... then it's got to be swift and it's got to be clean and pursuant to the contingency plan that you've developed," Yaroslavsky said.

"We've got to move and get the state to move on the license issue as quickly as possible and not go through this months-long process."

Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, whose district includes MLK-Harbor, urged her colleagues not to move too quickly and warned it may take time for patients to realize the hospital's ER and inpatient services have been shut down.

"There's a community in need and I also think that somehow you have to address the issue of those people who are going to be coming there and they're going to come there because they don't know," Burke said. "We're talking about real people and real lives."

MLK-Harbor's closure would have a major impact on seven private hospitals, California Hospital Medical Center; Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center; Downey Regional Medical Center; Kaiser Permanente Bellflower; Memorial Hospital of Gardena; St. Francis Medical Center; and White Memorial Medical Center.

Health officials are developing contracts with those hospitals to care for uninsured patients who would typically be treated at a county-operated facility.

"Nobody is happy about it but I think that they understand that there may not be an option. I think that what is important is that they want to be reimbursed for this care that the county is currently providing to these patients," said Carol Meyer, director of Emergency Medical Services.

The county Emergency Medical Services Agency also plans to redirect some patients from the trauma centers at California Medical Center and St. Francis to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

The Department of Health Services has also retained a consultant to help staff and budget outpatient services. The hospital's Urgent Care Center is expected to handle more than 180,000 annual visits should the emergency room close.

County officials were also asked to determine what will happen to MLK-Harbor's 250 residents.

In 1996, CMS limited the number of residents that hospitals could claim for reimbursement. Since implementation of the Metro-Care plan, those residents have been reassigned to other county hospitals on a temporary basis.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)