Medical Center Deserves More Help From County

In a recent report to the UC Board of Regents, the UCI Medical Center disclosed that it may lose as much as $5 million by the end of its fiscal year on June 30. No wonder.

The medical center, one of five hospitals in the UC system and one of about 30 in the county that contracts to care for the poor, cares for more poor patients than any other hospital in the UC system or in the county. And it turns no one away.

The medical center treats 35% of the county’s medically indigent and about seven out of every 10 people it cares for have no private insurance and must count on the federal, state or county government to pick up the tab. That’s UCI’s problem.

A recent management study by an outside auditing firm showed that the hospital was well run. But the medical center receives about one-third less than it costs to treat each indigent patient. With the patient load growing, medical costs rising and the reimbursements from the state and county so low, UCI Medical Center is destined to lose more money each year.

The solution seems simple enough. The state and county ought to be making more realistic reimbursements that come closer to the actual costs of treating the poor instead of continually shortchanging the medical center.

Orange County is not getting full reimbursement from the state, but unlike other counties that, on the average, spend much more on each poor patient’s care, the Board of Supervisors doesn’t do much to reduce the shortfall. Countless studies have shown that providing adequate medical service for people too poor to pay for it themselves is not only the compassionate and proper thing to do, but in the long run involves less cost to the taxpayers. If funding continues to deteriorate, hospitals will be hard-pressed to keep their service, and public health, from deteriorating too.