Tobacco Tax Funds Given to Trauma Care Network
The Board of Supervisors Tuesday allocated nearly $14 million in tobacco tax funds to bolster Los Angeles County’s sagging trauma care network.
The vote follows a recent decision by Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, prodded by the new dollars, to reverse its decision to drop out of the system.
Similar offers have been extended to St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier and Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina.
County officials said that if those four hospitals can be persuaded to rejoin the system, the county could fulfill its goal of transporting critically ill patients to a trauma center within 20 minutes of a call.
The money will go to reimburse hospitals and physicians for care to indigent patients.
The hospitals are Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, Holy Cross Medical Center, Huntington Memorial Hospital, Memorial Hospital Medical Center of Long Beach, Northridge Hospital Medical Center, St. Mary Medical Center, UCLA Hospital and Clinic and Westlake Community Hospital.
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