Financially Ailing French Hospital in Chinatown Sounds a Cry for Help

Financially ailing French Hospital in Los Angeles’ Chinatown has been put up for sale, and its operators are asking staff doctors and the surrounding community to consider taking over its operation.

The 129-year-old medical facility on West College Street--built to serve what was once a French immigrant settlement surrounding it, but now in the heart of Chinatown--has been suffering for about three years.

According to associate administrator Phyllis Michaelson, there has been a declining patient load, a high proportion of indigent patients without insurance, and lower payments from Medicare and Medi-Cal.

“Eighty-five (percent) to 90% of our patients are government-paid,” she said of the 127-bed facility. “And coupled with that, Medi-Cal reimbursements take months to get to us.”

“Right now we’re down to the bone,” added Dr. Shy-Yin Wong, a Chinatown general practitioner who serves as the hospital’s chief of staff. He predicted that without a reorganization, or an infusion of money, the hospital will be forced to close within months.

Michaelson said that may not be true, because in recent weeks the patient population has nearly doubled to about 100.

“If the census stays up, we could probably struggle along much longer,” she said.

News of the hospital’s predicament has sparked concern in Chinatown, because the majority of the patients served by the facility are Asian, usually non-English-speaking, and at least half the staff is Asian.

A group of physicians and local leaders met with hospital officials Wednesday to discuss the situation, including the possibility of raising money to save the facility. The hospital land is still owned by the French Society, which erected the building in the 1860s. The society leases the land to the nonprofit hospital.

“We see this as a community hospital, so the community should be involved,” Wong said.

Community Matter

A few who attended the meeting said the hospital has gotten fewer patients in recent years because the management, which is non-Asian, is not responsive enough to the community.

But others said that despite such criticism, the hospital should survive.

“It’s a health center that needs to be here, particularly with the refugee population here,” said Wilbur Woo, a director of Chinatown’s Cathay Bank.

“It’s ideal for Chinatown, since that is the hub of Chinese culture,” said Irwin Lai, a businessman and restaurant owner who is also on the hospital’s board.

Population Growth

A surge in residential construction in the nearby hills will add thousands to the area’s population, Lai said, making the presence of a hospital even more critical.

Recently, the hospital was listed in a national study as being among the 200 hospitals in the country with the lowest risk-adjusted death rates for Medicare patients.

Carl Moy, an obstetrician, said he doubted that staff doctors would take over ownership of the hospital, saying he thought the Chinese community would not trust physicians’ motives for hospitalizing patients if they owned the facility and profited from the hospitalizations.

“This hospital should belong to the community,” he said.