COUNTYWIDE : State Checks Quality of Obstetrical Care

The state commission that oversees Medi-Cal wants to hold hearings in Orange County to look into reports of inadequate hospital space for indigent women delivering babies, Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said.

Vasquez and two county health officials met Friday with top representatives from the California Medical Assistance Commission, the agency that recruits hospitals to accept patients on Medi-Cal and negotiates reimbursement contracts with those facilities.

He said the 1 1/2-hour meeting with the commission leaders resulted in “tremendous progress.

“We broadened their understanding about how Orange County is changing demographically and economically,” Vasquez said. “We established better ground for future discussions.”

CMAC has contended that there is ample space at Orange County hospitals providing obstetrical care to poor women. However, representatives of the county government, advocacy groups for the poor and administrators at UCI Medical Center have contended the county is facing a crisis. Two studies have backed the county up.

One of those studies, by the Hospital Council of Southern California, found that the hospitals with Medi-Cal contracts are delivering babies at 122% over capacity.

UCI Medical Center last year began turning away women in labor when the hospital’s maternity ward and emergency department are full. The controversial diversion practice was initiated because, hospital officials said, the overcrowded maternity ward was jeopardizing the health of the mothers and their babies.