Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital

Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, also known as MLK-LA, is a 131-bed public community hospital in the Willowbrook neighborhood of southern Los Angeles County, California.[1] It was planned and designed to especially serve the surrounding South Los Angeles communities' needs, including those of underinsured or uninsured patients.

Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital
Martin Luther King Jr. – Los Angeles Healthcare Corporation (MLK-LA)
Geography
Location1680 120th Street
Willowbrook, Los Angeles
Los Angeles County, California, United States
Coordinates33.923229°N 118.243737°W / 33.923229; -118.243737
Organization
Care systemPrivate, Nonprofit
FundingGovernment hospital
TypeCommunity
Affiliated universityUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Services
Beds130
History
Opened2013, opened 2015
Links
Websitewww.mlkcommunityhospital.org
ListsHospitals in California

The hospital opened on July 7, 2015,[2] in a new US$208,500,000 building.[3][4] The hospital on the site of the former Martin Luther King Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center, originally named the Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, known as King/Drew. The adjacent Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center opened in a new building in 2014.[5]

History

The closure of Martin Luther King Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center in 2007, due to revocation of federal funding after the hospital failed a comprehensive review by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, had immediate ramifications in the South Los Angeles area, which was left without a major hospital providing indigent care.[6][7]

In 2009, the County of Los Angeles successfully negotiated with the University of California to reach a compromise, whereby the county would provide funding for construction of a replacement hospital, and the UC system would provide physician staffing.[7] A nonprofit foundation, the Martin Luther King Jr. – Los Angeles Healthcare Corporation, was established to administer the hospital.[7]

Administration

The hospital is administered by Martin Luther King Jr. – Los Angeles Healthcare Corporation (MLK-LA), a private nonprofit organization.[8] The County of Los Angeles provided the capital funds for construction, and the University of California, Los Angeles healthcare system provides professional services and staffing.[8]

In August 2012, MLK-LA's Board appointed Elaine Batchlor, a physician and former chief medical officer for L.A. Care Health Plan, as the hospital's first chief executive officer.[9][10]

Operations

The hospital provides general acute care, basic emergency services, labor and delivery services, health education and outreach programs, along with other services typically provided by community hospitals, including radiology, laboratory, and blood bank services.[8]

The hospital serves a low income community where almost all the residents are African American and Latino. South LA has the lowest number of hospital beds per 100,000 people of any area in Los Angeles County. As a low-income community, the main system of funding healthcare is Medicaid, which in California pays providers very low rates.[11]

Transportation

The hospital has walking distance access to the Metro A Line and Metro C Line stations, as well as Gardena Transit and LADOT DASH buses.

See also

References
  1. Mlkcommunityhospital.org: Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital . accessed 7.7.2015
  2. LA Times: "A new beginning for MLK hospital and the community", 6 July 2015.
  3. "Approve Resolution for Reimbursement of Expenditures for the Multiservice Ambulatory Care Center/Ancillary Building (C.P. 70497) and the Inpatient Tower Renovation (C.P. 88945) Projects at Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Center" (PDF). Chief Executive Office. County of Los Angeles. 30 March 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  4. "MLK Hospital Construction Nears Completion". Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. County of Los Angeles. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  5. Los Angeles County Department of Health Services: Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center website . accessed 7.7.2015
  6. Charles Ornstein, Tracy Weber and Jack Leonard, King-Harbor fails final check, will close soon, Los Angeles Times, August 11, 2007.
  7. Sample, Herbert A. (23 December 2012). "New MLK hospital rising in LA". California Health Report. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  8. "Frequently Asked Questions". Martin Luther King Jr. – Los Angeles (MLK–LA) Healthcare Corporation. 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  9. "Health plan chief to head Martin Luther King Jr. hospital". Los Angeles Times. August 27, 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  10. "New MLK Community Hospital Appoints Dr. Elaine Batchlor as Chief Executive Officer". Business Wire. August 27, 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  11. Bauman, Anna; Chakrabarti, Meghna (January 18, 2021). "In LA, 10 People Test Positive For COVID-19 Every Minute. What's Behind The Surge?". WBUR. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
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