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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Measure B Passage Offers No Guarantees for Valley

Measure B Passage Offers No Guarantees for Valley By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter Voters overwhelmingly approved a measure Nov. 5 that, among other things, is supposed to provide funding to keep Olive View-UCLA Medical Center’s emergency room from shutting down. But it turns out the passage of Measure B provides no guarantees that the Sylmar-based facility will avoid the scalpel after all. In fact, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Nov. 19 to delay until Jan. 21 a final decision on whether to shutter the ER at Olive View. In the meantime, the board has directed the county Department of Health Service (DOHS) to craft a spending plan for Measure B by Nov. 25. There is no guarantee that plan will include options for Olive View. Measure B is expected to bring in roughly $168 million annually to support the county’s trauma centers, emergency rooms and biological/chemical terrorism response programs. Approved by a 73-percent margin at the polls, the measure calls for a property tax increase that should cost an average homeowner about $43 a year. Olive View needs roughly $65 million a year to operate its emergency room, according to John Wallace, director of external relations for the DOHS. He said every effort would be made to keep Olive View’s ER open, but conceded it’s possible the board of supervisors could ultimately decide Measure B funds would be better spent on other facilities or programs and turn Olive View into an outpatient facility. “We are trying everything we can to preserve trauma services at Olive View, but the funding that is supposed to be provided isn’t going to be enough,” said Wallace. “While a formal commitment hasn’t been made, the likely decision is that a way will be found to keep Olive View’s ER open. We’re pretty optimistic.” Olive View has 377 licensed beds and receives roughly 45,000 ER visits each year, Wallace said. Olive View and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center are the only two county facilities whose ER’s are threatened with closure. A decision on Harbor is also expected in January. Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Healthcare Association of Southern California, said his agency is closely monitoring the post-Measure B process and will use its muscle to see to it that trauma centers and emergency rooms get what they were promised when the measure was first introduced. “The reason everyone is unsteady about this is the ballot measure didn’t really specify which facilities would get what,” Lott said. “It left decisions on how to spend the dollars from Measure B up to the board of supervisors.” Lott said closing Olive View’s ER would result in an 11-percent increase in visits to other Valley emergency rooms, placing a burden on smaller facilities already struggling with budget cuts, nursing shortages and the rising cost of health care.

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