SOUTHEAST AREA : Bill Seeks to Lure Doctors to Region
Health care providers could be wooed to the medically underserved Southeast area through incentives similar to those used to attract business to economically troubled areas, according to a bill being considered by an Assembly Committee.
The bill, introduced by Assemblywoman Martha M. Escutia (D-Huntington Park) would create 10 “medical enterprise zones” throughout the state and make available tax credits and other incentives to health professionals who practice in the zones.
The medical enterprise zones would exist within some of the 25 existing business enterprise zones.
If adopted, the bill could help reduce long-term and emergency health care costs by making preventive care readily available to needy residents, Escutia said.
The Federal Bureau of Primary Health Care has designated the City of Commerce, Bell, Huntington Park and Maywood as “health professional shortage areas,” poor regions where the ratio of residents to full-time doctors is about 3,500 to 1, and where there are high rates of birth and infant mortality, according to a bureau report.
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