Hospital Vows to Fight on in Funding Lawsuit

Antelope Valley Hospital had its first court hearing earlier this month regarding its lawsuit against Los Angeles County and its board of supervisors for allegedly misallocating billions of dollars of Measure B funding. During the hearing, a judge denied the hospital’s demand to order the county to develop a new method for distributing Measure B funds. The judge cited broad language and lack of allocation instructions in the bill as reason for the denial. “While we are certainly disappointed with the judge’s denial of our writ of mandate, we are determined to continue to fight for the Antelope Valley’s fair share of county trauma funds,” the hospital said in a statement. “Local residents are contributing to the fund through their tax dollars and deserve fair and equitable treatment by the county.” Passed by voters in 2002, Measure B designates that certain property tax revenues should pay for trauma centers and medical service response systems for emergency situations as well as terrorist attacks. The Lancaster hospital claims the county distributes the money disproportionately. A 2014 state audit concluded that 76 percent of the $255 million generated by Measure B went to three county-run public hospitals, while slightly less than 16 percent went to 12 noncounty-operated trauma centers. The audit promoted the hospital’s lawsuit. Antelope Valley Hospital serves 5 percent of L.A. County’s population yet receives less than half of a percent of all annual Measure B funding. Currently, Antelope Valley Hospital is being reimbursed a little over $1 million a year but believes it should be receiving at least 12 times that. “For years, AVH (Antelope Valley Hospital) has been substantially underfunded in comparison to L.A. County+USC, Harbor-UCLA and Olive View-UCLA, as well as all other non-county trauma hospitals,” said one of the hospital’s attorneys in an email to the Business Journal. “Currently, AVH’s lawsuit continues forward based on its remaining causes of action against the county — for equitable relief, damages and an accounting, as well as a demand for a jury trial. The case will now be transferred to a different judge, and AVH will further investigate the county’s receipt and expenditure of Measure B funds.” New Adventist Exec Dr. Despina Kayichian has joined the team at Glendale Adventist Medical Center as its new vice president of medical affairs and quality. However, this isn’t her first run at the East Valley hospital. “I first came to practice at Glendale Adventist in 1996, fresh out of training,” she said. “There are a lot of familiar and friendly faces, and it’s truly like coming back home.” In her new role, Kayichian will continue to focus on improving quality and safety metrics as well as pursue her initiative to increase hospital palliative care, defined as medicine that alleviates pain and increases comfort without treating a condition’s cause. Kayichian said it is vital to educate people on what palliative care truly is as many associate it with hospice, or end of life care. Palliative care encompasses providing relief for people with serious illnesses by utilizing various doctors from different disciplines, all with the goal in mind to improve quality of life. “That’s where I feel we have to strengthen our program. There is a lot of education in the beginning of such a program in addition to bringing different team members together to provide patients this layer of support,” she said. SetPoint Medical Moves SetPoint Medical Inc., a Valencia-based biotech startup, is moving in more ways than one. At the beginning of the month, the company published successful clinical trial results in a peer-reviewed journal. It also signed a 10-year lease at Mann Biomedical Park also in Valencia. SetPoint, which is currently developing a neuromodulation device to treat people with debilitating inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease, will move into its new building, located at 25101 Rye Canyon Loop, on Sept. 1. “The company sits right now in about 7,000 square feet with 25 employees,” said John Long, SetPoint’s leader of operations. “Based off of the success we had in our initial trials, we are moving out into about 15,000 square feet where we can continue with trials as well as accommodate different validation testing and regulatory efforts to get our device to commercialization.” He said the space can accommodate another 25 employees, but the company has no immediate plans to hire except for the four or five personnel the company was already looking for. The company is slated for clinical trials in humans in the beginning of 2017. Staff Reporter Stephanie Henkel can be reached at (818) 316-3130 or [email protected].