Private Hospitals Rush to Aid of Clinics : Crisis: Fearing closures of public health facilities will overburden emergency rooms, cripple services, dozens bid to take over operations.

Private hospital executives hurriedly hand-delivered bids Thursday to take over county medical clinics, saying it will be better to lose some money running the facilities than have their emergency rooms flooded with uninsured sick people when the clinics are closed.

County officials said private hospitals and other caregivers turned in several dozen proposals by a 4 p.m. deadline to operate clinics that provide prenatal care, AIDS testing, childhood vaccinations, treatment for tuberculosis and other services to hundreds of thousands of low-income residents.

Among the largest bidders is a consortium of San Fernando Valley hospitals and physicians’ groups that wants to assume management of all six clinics targeted for closure in the region.

Meanwhile, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the Mid-Valley Comprehensive Health Center in Van Nuys has been removed from the list of clinics targeted for closure, although its operations will be scaled back.

The county plans to shutter 33 of its 45 clinics and most outpatient services at its six hospitals on Oct. 1 to help bridge a massive budget deficit that is forcing a drastic downsizing of the nation’s second largest public health system run by local government.

Among bidders to take over county facilities are some of Los Angeles’ best-known hospitals, including St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Childrens Hospital and Queen of Angels/Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center.

County health czar Burt Margolin and other officials hope to blunt the impact of their budget cuts by turning over some or all of the clinics to outside contractors. Since the budget crunch is so severe, private medical providers were given only nine days to submit bids and many complained of not being able to obtain details on clinic operating costs.

But the uncertainties did not prevent them from submitting about 100 proposals to take over clinics and hospital outpatient services, a Margolin spokeswoman said.

The Valley group, which includes at least 11 hospitals, wants to form a private corporation to take over and operate clinics from Canoga Park to Burbank. It hopes to tap the Woodland Hills-based California Wellness Foundation and other local charities for operating funds.

Dr. Keith Richman, the group’s leader, said private hospital executives and doctors believe they can run the clinics cheaper and more efficiently than the county. The group, he said, wants eventually to take over all medical care for 350,000 valley residents without health insurance, an arrangement he said would also benefit local hospitals battered by the recession and intense private-sector competition.

However, the scheme faces serious obstacles. Gary Yates, president of the $845-million Wellness Foundation, said earlier this week his organization has made no decision about whether to commit its funds, although it is interested in trying to help ease the county health crisis. Moreover, state regulators have yet to approve the creation of two other foundations Richman’s group hopes to approach for money.

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Among other large-scale bidders is Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, which is interested in taking over five clinics, either on its own or with other private providers.

Peter Bastone, president and chief operating officer of the nonprofit hospital, owned by an order of Catholic nuns, said it expects to lose at least $250,000 annually by running the county clinics.

But, he said, “it’s going to be more costly to have these [county] patients hit our emergency room than to tithe ourselves, and keep the clinics open.”

Another nonprofit hospital, Queen of Angels/Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, said it had bid on six clinics--including one in Burbank and another in Glendale--whose combined operating budget is $5.5 million annually.

Bob Steward, the hospital’s vice president of public affairs, said taking over the clinics would “extend our mission” to care for poor residents. He said the hospital already has close relationships with 10 private clinics.

Bastone said he knows some private caregivers are bidding in an effort to make money by acquiring county patients covered by Medi-Cal, the state’s insurance program for the poor. But he warned that turning a profit is highly unlikely, since about two-thirds of county clinic patients have no insurance and cannot otherwise pay for medical care.

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Yaroslavsky said negotiations between his office and county health officials resulted in the Mid-Valley health clinic being removed from the closure list.

The center was demolished last year due to damage from the Northridge earthquake, and health workers now operate out of several trailers. Programs to treat sexually transmitted diseases and TB will be transferred to Mid-Valley from Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, Yaroslavsky said, but the clinic will still handle fewer patients than before the quake.

A spokeswoman for Margolin, the health czar, said county officials plan to sift through the bids over the weekend and expect to award contracts to private operators by Oct. 1--in time to keep clinics from actually shutting down.

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