MLK Community Hospital in danger of running out of money
Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, which serves as much of South Los Angeles' primary emergency healthcare provider, may soon run out of money, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The nonprofit hospital opened in 2015, replacing the disgraced Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, which was shutdown for poorly meeting patient's needs.
With so few healthcare options available, the news has many of the 1.3 million residents on edge, especially considering the emergency room is one of the busiest in the nation, treating more than 102,000 patients last year.
Hospital officials say they're on track to top last year's numbers, due to the lack of medical access in the surrounding area.
"We are having some struggles," said Dr. Elaine Batchlor, the CEO of MLK Community Hospital. "We've got more patients coming into the emergency department in the hospital than ever before."
The state-of-the-art hospital, which features more than 130 patient beds, says that they're struggling to pay bills in a traditionally low-income community where many are either uninsured or rely on public resources to pay for bills. In 2022 alone, they say that 96% of the hospital's patients had their care covered by Medi-Cal, a federal insurance program that serves low-income families.
Batchlor noted that In the last year, the hospital has lost more than $42 million in their last budget year, which ended in June. She says a big part of that is inflation, which is outstripping revenue.
"The public sources of funding for the hospital have not increased at the same rate that our cost and volume have increased," she said.
She says that a $14 million loan will help the hospital operate for at least the next six months, time which she will use to work towards a permanent funding solution.
