County Officials Want Help With Hospital Laws

Officials in Orange and Los Angeles counties want Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help hospitals deal with two laws they say could make it difficult for them to survive in the state.

Supervisors from both counties intend to write Schwarzenegger asking him to create a program to help hospitals pay for an estimated $24 billion in retrofitting needed to make facilities less vulnerable in an earthquake.

The supervisors also suggest that the governor instruct state health officials to waive penalties for hospitals found not in compliance with a law that took effect in January that increases the required ratio of nurses to patients.

Officials in both counties are concerned that the financial impact of the two laws could cause hospitals to close. The state Economic Development Department has estimated that there will be 97,500 nursing jobs open in the state by 2010, evidence of a nursing shortage that is making it increasingly difficult for hospitals to meet staffing requirements under the new law.

A spokeswoman said Schwarzenegger would not comment on the counties’ proposal because he had not received their letter.

Orange County Supervisor Chuck Smith said he supported sending the letter because the two laws have the potential of “demolishing health care in Orange County. Let’s use a little reasonableness and common sense in Sacramento,” Smith said. “That’s all we’re asking for.”

Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell said he thought it was improper for the Legislature to tell hospitals how many nurses they need on duty. He also said the retrofitting law makes no sense because it applies to all hospitals, even though some are less susceptible to earthquakes than others.

One concern about the nurse ratio requirement is that a disaster, such as a terrorist attack, could inundate hospitals with patients and push them into a violation of the law.

“We’re not against standards; we’re against [the] incredible inflexibility of those standards,” said Dr. Peter Anderson, who runs the emergency room at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center. “We don’t turn away ambulances, and we’re breaking the law as a result.”