Hospital Closes 2 Units, Fires 300 Workers

Thompson Memorial Medical Center, recently cited by state inspectors for health-code violations, abruptly closed its emergency room overnight Thursday, shut down its mental-health unit and fired about 300 staff members.

The medical center, formerly called Burbank Community Hospital, was disqualified from the Medicare and Medi-Cal programs as of April 1. It will remain open with about 50 employees.

Three in-patients, who are not dependent on federal insurance, were still being treated there.

The hospital will continue to treat paying clients, but because about 80% of its patients depend on Medicare or Medi-Cal, disqualification will prove financially devastating, said an emotional Jerry Gillman, president of the hospital.

Gillman met with reporters Thursday and claimed the hospital had been “singled out” by overzealous regulators following a bitter union fight.

“They didn’t give us a fair chance,” Gillman said. “They are throwing out the baby with the bathwater. It sickens me, to be honest with you.”

Gillman blamed the problems on disgruntled doctors and former employees who, he said, had launched “a campaign to cause trouble” after a new management team took over the hospital.

Eight bedridden patients were transferred to other local hospitals after federal officials told Thompson executives Thursday that the facility no longer qualified for Medicare and Medi-Cal reimbursements, Gillman said.

The hospital was given a 30-day grace period to move patients, a federal official said.

An additional 40 mental-health outpatients will be referred to other clinics in the coming week.

Of the 300 people who lost their jobs, about 200 of the employees were full-time workers at the hospital, Gillman said. Another hundred were per diem workers who were told they would not be called back, he said.

County health officials inspected Thompson in November, February and late March in response to complaints.

In the February report, the most recent available, the officials cited the 105-bed hospital for failing to maintain a clean, sanitary facility, among other problems.

The report also said the hospital had failed to properly credential doctors, and that its pharmacy had issued medications without specific orders from doctors. Some drugs were also out-of-date, said Jean Olander, a program manager for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

Gillman contended most of the problems had been remedied by March, when the inspectors made their final visit. But inspectors found problems with procedures and incomplete patient files, and ordered the Medicare cutoff, he said.

The closure of the hospital will result in longer ambulance rides for some patients, Gillman said. He called on Burbank city officials to come to the hospital’s defense.

But city and county emergency-response officials said Thompson gets only one or two ambulance runs daily. Those can easily be absorbed by Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, they said.

Burbank Fire Chief Michael Davis said the difference in response time for an emergency call that now goes to Providence St. Joseph instead of Thompson will be minor, perhaps 30 seconds to a minute longer.

Burbank City Council member Ted McConkey, however, was dismayed.

“Now we have only one hospital. It’s a big hit to us economically,” McConkey said.

Gillman said he and three other investors bought out a majority share in the hospital from a group of doctors in October 1995.

He said the hospital, built in 1907 and one of the oldest hospitals in Los Angeles County, was riddled with problems. “We inherited a mess,” he said.

The new management set aside millions of dollars to upgrade the facility and the equipment, and began firing what Gillman called “incompetent” doctors and other workers.

Tension built, and in October a group of employees tried to unionize, but “we beat the union off,” said Gillman, 57, a pharmacist and longtime medical administrator who owns the majority stake in Thompson.

A byproduct of the union battle, Gillman contended, was a barrage of complaints against the hospital, which triggered the county’s investigation.

Gillman said the troubles came just as Thompson’s fortunes were turning: The $65-million-per-year corporation had been losing money when his investment group purchased it, but had just begun turning a healthy profit.

Gillman, however, said he will fight to save the hospital and plans to reapply to qualify for Medicare reimbursement. The process could take months, he said.

“In my wildest dreams I didn’t think we’d be torpedoed like this,” he said.

Hernandez is a staff writer and Leovy and Rippee are correspondents.