(Associated Press)
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LOS ANGELES -- The UC Board of Regents voted Thursday to partner with Los Angeles County to reopen the troubled King-Harbor Hospital in South Los Angeles.
Under the plan, the hospital will reopen as Martin Luther King Jr. hospital with emergency and inpatient services by 2012.
The University of California would provide the physician staff and develop a graduate medical training program, while the county will contribute financially.
The arrangement still needs final approval from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
The Board of Supervisors could consider the issue as early as its Dec. 1 meeting, according to James Bolden, spokesman for Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has been spearheading efforts to reopen the facility.
"It is important the South Los Angeles community has access to critical medical services and quality health care resources, and this agreement is a significant milestone toward the future of re-opening of the Martin Luther King hospital," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
"I applaud the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the University of California regents for coming together and making progress on a plan that will address this significant need for the people of South Los Angeles."
The plan envisions reopening the hospital as a 120-bed facility in late 2012, housed in a new seismically compliant patient tower.
An emergency department, housed in a building to be built adjacent to the patient tower, would be opened in 2013, followed by a newly constructed "ambulatory care center" to be opened in 2014.
County officials said the construction costs would be about $391 million, less than the cost of attempting to seismically retrofit the old MLK-Harbor Hospital building.
County administrators said the cost of retrofitting the building could exceed $416 million.
UC would not be responsible for any of the construction or operating costs of the hospital.
The county estimated the new facility would cost about $168 million a year to run. The county was expected to pay about 30 percent of those costs, with the balance coming from federal and state reimbursements.
The hospital would be run by an independent nonprofit organization overseen by a seven-member board of directors -- including two members chosen by the county, two by the university and three jointly by the county and university. Once established, the board would hire a private operator to provide administrative services for the hospital.
The vote came at the regents meeting at the University of California, Los Angeles campus.
The hospital was built to serve one of the poorest neighborhoods in Los Angeles in the wake of the 1965 Watts riots.
The hospital closed in August 2007 because years of negligence resulted in patient deaths.
The regents are also scheduled to vote on a 32-percent student fee hike, a controversial measure that has drawn hundreds of student and union protesters to the UCLA campus.
Under the plan, the hospital will reopen as Martin Luther King Jr. hospital with emergency and inpatient services by 2012.
The University of California would provide the physician staff and develop a graduate medical training program, while the county will contribute financially.
The arrangement still needs final approval from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
The Board of Supervisors could consider the issue as early as its Dec. 1 meeting, according to James Bolden, spokesman for Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has been spearheading efforts to reopen the facility.
"It is important the South Los Angeles community has access to critical medical services and quality health care resources, and this agreement is a significant milestone toward the future of re-opening of the Martin Luther King hospital," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said.
"I applaud the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the University of California regents for coming together and making progress on a plan that will address this significant need for the people of South Los Angeles."
The plan envisions reopening the hospital as a 120-bed facility in late 2012, housed in a new seismically compliant patient tower.
An emergency department, housed in a building to be built adjacent to the patient tower, would be opened in 2013, followed by a newly constructed "ambulatory care center" to be opened in 2014.
County officials said the construction costs would be about $391 million, less than the cost of attempting to seismically retrofit the old MLK-Harbor Hospital building.
County administrators said the cost of retrofitting the building could exceed $416 million.
UC would not be responsible for any of the construction or operating costs of the hospital.
The county estimated the new facility would cost about $168 million a year to run. The county was expected to pay about 30 percent of those costs, with the balance coming from federal and state reimbursements.
The hospital would be run by an independent nonprofit organization overseen by a seven-member board of directors -- including two members chosen by the county, two by the university and three jointly by the county and university. Once established, the board would hire a private operator to provide administrative services for the hospital.
The vote came at the regents meeting at the University of California, Los Angeles campus.
The hospital was built to serve one of the poorest neighborhoods in Los Angeles in the wake of the 1965 Watts riots.
The hospital closed in August 2007 because years of negligence resulted in patient deaths.
The regents are also scheduled to vote on a 32-percent student fee hike, a controversial measure that has drawn hundreds of student and union protesters to the UCLA campus.
