High Desert Hospital Faces New Closure Threat

After enduring several bouts of near-closure during the past two years, patients and employees at Lancaster’s High Desert Hospital were left hanging again on Monday.

The budget plan unveiled by county Chief Administrative Officer David E. Janssen recommends that the county cut High Desert’s funding by June 30--whether or not the facility has been privatized by that date.

But county health officials maintained Monday that the hospital will remain open until an operating agreement can be reached with a private health-care company to run High Desert’s inpatient services.

“While privatization is something we believe in, it will not come at the expense of providing health care up there,” said Kathryn Barger, health deputy to Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who represents the area.

The county--which is currently transforming its health system--has been trying to save money by privatizing inpatient care at High Desert while it concentrates on the hospital’s less-expensive outpatient services.

Meanwhile, most residents in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys will probably see neither marked improvement nor a disruption in most county services if the Board of Supervisors adopts Janssen’s budget proposal.

The plan recommends reducing the number of beds at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar by 27--though health officials said that cutback will be more than evened out by the hiring of 96 new employees at nine San Fernando Valley health clinics, which specialize in preventive, outpatient care.

Among other local highlights of the budget plan, Janssen calls for using voter-approved Proposition A park funds to touch up or add equipment to Dexter Park in Kagle Canyon, El Cariso Park in Sylmar, Devil’s Punchbowl in the Antelope Valley and Castaic Lake, Stevenson Ranch and Val Verde parks in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The proposal also calls for a total of $1.8 million in funding for county parks--including El Cariso Park, Apollo Park in Lancaster and Crescenta Valley Park in Glendale--that the parks and recreation department had tried to hand over to cities in return for the cost of maintenance. The parks, however, had no takers.

Additionally, Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic was among the county jails which will hire 63 new mental health counselors to work with prisoners.

Though High Desert’s patients, employees and local supporters have been bracing for the 36-year-old hospital’s closure since 1995, county health officials are running out of time to ensure a smooth transition to a private operator.

Indeed, if the health department fails to reach a privatization agreement on the hospital by June 30--the end of the fiscal year--the county must find $6.6 million to keep the facility open for another year, officials said.

“It looks like they’re not going to be able to meet that deadline, and if not, the department is going to have to find the additional revenue from somewhere else,” said Barger.

The health department has already shaved $123 million from its budget and will probably need to make further cuts before supervisors approve the final budget this summer or fall, officials said.

County health director Mark Finucane declined comment Monday, but Jerry Harris, High Desert’s associate administrator summed up the confusion: “Frankly, we don’t know what’s going to happen.”