Assail Hospital : Activists Seek Restoration of Medi-Cal Care

A consumer health advocacy group has filed an administrative complaint against Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills challenging what has become an increasingly widespread policy at Southern California hospitals--refusal to treat Medi-Cal patients.

Holy Cross began refusing to hospitalize Medi-Cal patients for all but emergency treatment last month after hospital officials complained that Medi-Cal reimbursement rates were too low to offset their costs.

In a complaint filed Wednesday with the civil rights office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, attorneys for San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Services said that the hospital received $3.5 million in federal Hill-Burton construction grants during the last 30 years in return for a pledge to serve low-income people in their community.

The legal action seeks no money, but rather an administrative order requiring the hospital to provide in-patient hospital service for Medi-Cal patients, thereby fulfilling “its obligation as a recipient of Hill-Burton funds.”

Medi-Cal Contracts Dwindle

During the last three years, the number of area hospitals contracting with the state for treatment of Medi-Cal patients has dwindled. This does not include emergency cases, since hospitals are prohibited by law from refusing emergency treatment to Medi-Cal patients.

A spokesman for the Southern California Hospital Council said 142 hospitals contracted with the state to accept Medi-Cal patients in 1985, compared to 121 now. The biggest drop--from 20 to 12 hospitals--occurred in the Northwest section of Los Angeles County.

“This is a trend. . . . It’s already too late to nip it in the bud,” said James S. Carroll, an attorney with San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Services.

Holy Cross, a 259-bed hospital owned by Sisters of the Holy Cross, has traditionally served Medi-Cal patients from Pacoima, Arleta, Lake View Terrace and Sylmar.

Holy Cross spokeswoman Shelly Rondeau said the hospital discontinued providing in-patient care for Medi-Cal patients to save enough money “so that we can continue to provide our many community services, including trauma care, our obstetrical clinic, caring for Medicare patients and our numerous charity projects.”

‘Plenty of Access’

Mike Murray, executive director of the California Medical Assistance Commission, which negotiates Medi-Cal contracts with hospitals throughout California, said that besides Holy Cross, three other hospitals in the Antelope and San Fernando valleys have recently terminated Medi-Cal contracts. They are Palmdale Hospital Medical Center, AMI Tarzana Medical Center and AMI Medical Center of North Hollywood. A year ago, Murray said, Northridge Hospital Medical Center terminated its contract for Medi-Cal service.

Murray said that the area had too many hospitals under contract in the first place so that the recent losses have not posed a problem. “There’s plenty of access” for Medi-Cal patients at other hospitals, he said.

Rondeau at Holy Cross said Medi-Cal patients in the northern Valley “will still be able to obtain health care services from seven other hospitals in the area.”

But Carroll said, “It depends upon how you define the area. They’re including hospitals in the Antelope Valley 40 miles away.”

One patient, Cynthia Rodriguez, who suffers from severe asthma, stated in a declaration that the disruption in medical care has caused serious distress.

“When I suffer an asthma attack, I need to be treated by a doctor who is familiar with my condition,” she said. “I fear that were I to be treated with conventional drugs, by a physician who was unfamiliar with my medical history, I might die.”