Long Beach Seeks to Rescue Hospital

Long Beach officials said Wednesday they are considering whether to assume operation of a financially struggling private hospital as a last-ditch attempt to save the facility from closing.

The Long Beach Community Medical Center, a 76-year-old facility in the city’s well-off eastern section, had been scheduled for shutdown this fall. The hospital’s owner, the nonprofit hospital chain Catholic Healthcare West of Southern California, said last month that it could no longer afford to cover annual losses of more than $12 million.

But eastside residents and the hospital’s own doctors have rallied against the closure plan, arguing that the facility was vital to the neighborhood and could be rescued. They hired a Sacramento public relations firm, placed full-page newspaper ads and quickly won support from Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill and the City Council.

Under mounting public pressure, Catholic’s Chief Executive Officer Beth O’Brien offered an alternative to closure during two hours of talks with city officials Wednesday. Catholic, she said, is willing to transfer property in and around the 278-bed hospital to the city in October and to temporarily suspend--rather than irrevocably surrender to the state--its license to operate.

“Our proposal allows the city of Long Beach to achieve its goal of keeping a nonprofit hospital on the eastside,” O’Brien said in a statement.

O’Neill and City Manager Henry Taboada welcomed the proposal, saying they have no intention of running the hospital in the long term. But by taking control, they could give the hospital’s supporters several months to find new investors and operators for the center, they said.

“This leaves the door open,” said Taboada. “I think it was a major concession.”

But even with the city’s involvement, the odds against saving the hospital remain high. More than 60% of all hospitals in California are losing money for services paid by public and private insurance plans, state estimates show.

And with six hospitals within 10 miles of the facility, state figures indicate that there are 30% more beds than needed in Long Beach.

In east Long Beach, however, supporters of the hospital say they are undeterred. Betty Keller, chairwoman of the hospital’s advisory board, said she has a business plan to reopen Long Beach Community as a somewhat smaller facility.

Don Temple, a storage company owner whose donations funded the hospital cancer center, says he is lining up potential investors. And Dr. Guy Lemire, a top heart surgeon at Long Beach Community, said the facility’s doctors, many of whom are relocating their practices elsewhere in Long Beach, are ready to return if the facility can be saved.

“I believe the hospital will survive,” Lemire said. “It’s certainly better than a 50-50 chance.”

Still, Lemire and other members of the local “Save Our Neighborhood Hospital” coalition said that Catholic’s offer did not go far enough.

Keller said she wants Catholic to keep the medical center up and running until a new buyer can be found--rather than turning it over to Long Beach for the interim.

Catholic spokeswoman Joyce Hawthorne reiterated late Wednesday that the company has no intention of running the hospital beyond Oct. 2.

“The city and the supporters of the hospital have a period of time now where we have to move fast,” said City Councilman Frank Colonna, who also attended Wednesday’s talks. “We need a buyer.”