Hospital Council Halts Talks on Serving Poor

Warning that emergency rooms may close and hospitals will quit serving the poor, the Hospital Council of Southern California announced Thursday that it had halted contract negotiations over Orange County’s Indigent Medical Services program.

“What we’re saying by pulling out of discussions is we simply, as an association, cannot continue down this road leading nowhere,” said S. Russell Inglish, the council’s Orange County vice president.

Late Thursday, none of the 28 hospitals in Orange County’s IMS system had quit, but another Hospital Council vice president, David Langness said, “It’s just a matter of time.”

After Gov. George Deukmejian slashed $11 million from the IMS budget in July and county supervisors later declined to restore the money, hospitals were left with a base of only $7.5 million for indigent care, council officials said.

That amount “will cover only 10% of hospital operating costs,” Inglish complained.

Hospital officials added that the current IMS budget cuts their reimbursement from 20 cents on the dollar to 10 cents.

Late Thursday, county negotiator Herbert Rosenzweig said he hoped hospital leaders would continue their three-year IMS contracts which end next June. “There’s only six months left in this multi-year contract and we’ve wanted to devote our energies to next year’s contract,” Rosenzweig said.

About 24,000 county residents--mostly the working poor--are served under the IMS system. These are people who do not qualify for state health insurance--Medi-Cal--but lack sufficient funds to pay their medical bills. Through contracts with 28 hospitals, the county pays those bills, but at a sharply discounted rate. IMS will cover costs of medical care for life-threatening illnesses and accidents, but not elective surgeries or lesser illnesses such as bronchitis.

Under antitrust laws, officials from each hospital must decide about quitting IMS.