HEALTH

Kaiser Weighs Closing Sunset Blvd. Hospital: The insurer is considering whether to send its Southern California patients in need of organ transplants and cardiac surgery to non-Kaiser community hospitals instead of its flagship Sunset Boulevard medical center. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan executives said no final decision has been made, but representatives of a Kaiser labor union said they believe the company has already decided to close the sprawling Los Angeles facility for inpatient services. “They’ve been closing down wards, combining wards and setting it up to close down,” said Tom O’Conner, a spokesman for Local 399 of the Hospital and Service Employees Union. O’Conner said closure could involve hundreds, or possibly thousands, of layoffs. The facility is Kaiser’s major hospital for its 2.2-million area members.