Executive Summary
The number of beds in Los Angeles County hospitals has been steadily declining as financial pressures and technological improvements combine to reduce the average number of days that patients are hospitalized.
The number of licensed beds at the 25 largest hospitals in the county was 19,038 in 1987. On this year’s list, the total is 14,422. But the number of available beds is only 11,949, as many hospitals operate below their licensed capacity. Increasingly, procedures once performed in the hospital are being done at outpatient clinics as managed care plans force health care providers to cut costs. Those patients who do require hospitalization are being released sooner, and many people with chronic illnesses are now being cared for at home by home health care agencies.
Financially, L.A. County hospitals had total gross patient revenue of $23.1 billion in 1997, up from $21.2 billion in 1996. A few notable hospitals have had decreases in beds since last year. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center had the biggest decrease in licensed beds, from 1,012 to 877. Los Angeles County operates the most hospitals on the list, with four of its six hospitals in the top 25. Tenet Healthcare Corp. is next with three.
The Pacesetter
Founded in 1878, L.A. County-USC Medical Center is the largest public hospital in the world.
Employing more than 7,000 people and with a budget exceeding $700 million, the medical center treats hundreds of thousands of patients each year, many of them for free. State and county lawmakers are debating what to do with the aging and earthquake-damaged facility. The long-anticipated construction of a replacement hospital adjacent to the current one has been bogged down for several years as L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina, supported by state lawmakers, pushes for one with at least 750 beds. Other supervisors want a smaller hospital to reflect the changes in health care that now emphasize outpatient care.
The medical center is currently licensed for 1,179 beds, but is only staffed to run 860 of them. Though the size of the hospital has not been determined, the county has awarded a $47 million contract to Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Inc. to oversee construction of the new facility, which is still scheduled to open in 2006.
Originally completed in 1932, County-USC is the flagship hospital of the six facilities owned and operated by the county’s Department of Health Services. The hospital is the primary teaching facility of the USC School of Medicine and a magnet for medical school graduates, employing 871 residents. There are also 1,200 doctors from throughout the community that perform volunteer work for the hospital.
