Mar 24, 2007 10:50 am US/Pacific
Feds Agree To Extend Funding For King-Harbor
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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The troubled hospital received an extension in federal funding. (File)
Federal officials agreed to extend funding for the newly reconfigured Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, it was reported.
The Medicare funding extension granted Friday will enable the teaching hospital patched together from the ruins of Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center to continue operating. The county, state or other funding sources would have to provide the remaining $60 million needed to keep the facility operating through mid-August, according to media reports.
The funding extension also preserves openings for up to 250 medical residents.
MLK-Harbor is slated to increase from 48 beds to 114 beds by November with continued federal funding.
County officials scaled back specialty services in 2006 after the long-troubled hospital failed a key inspection, prompting federal officials to withhold about $200 million in funding, which is about half the hospital's budget.
To avoid the cut, the county eliminated the hospital's specialty services, cut the number of beds, reassigned all employees and ended its relationship with the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, forcing medical residents there to find new placements.
The Willowbrook hospital is now overseen by administrators at county-run Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near Torrance.
The funding offer will be discussed by county officials Tuesday.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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