Makeover on Tap for Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center

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Makeover on Tap for Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center

Health Care

by Laurence Darmiento

Less than two months after taking over operations of Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center, the Daughters of Charity Health System is signaling that it’s not afraid to take on Tenet Healthcare Corp.

Officials of the 274-bed Hawthorne hospital announced that they’re moving ahead with a $34 million expansion of the aging facility, parts of which faced being taken out of service under the state’s hospital earthquake safety law.

The expansion will involve construction of a new patient tower that will include new operating rooms, new intensive care units, 79 patient beds and other units, including obstetrics.

The medical center is among seven in the state that broke away on Jan. 1 from Catholic Healthcare West, the large San Francisco-based non-profit system that has been suffering financial problems over the past several years.

Larry Stahl, RFK’s chief operating officer, said it was unclear prior to the Daughters of Charity takeover what CHW wanted to do with the hospital, especially in light of Tenet’s move last year to acquire the two Daniel Freeman hospitals in Inglewood and Marina del Rey.

Those acquisitions left the for-profit chain with a substantial market share in the region, given it already owned Brotman Medical Center in Culver City and Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood.

“The commitment under CHW was ambiguous,” Stahl said. “Under the Daughters of Charity it’s full speed ahead.”

Doctors Bill

A bill co-sponsored by local Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Granada Hills, has emerged as a top priority this year for the California Medical Association, after stalling last year.

From its inception, the bill has intended to give doctors greater leverage in setting reimbursement rates during contract negotiations with health insurers. But it fell flat in its approach of allowing independent doctors to band together and negotiate as a group. Insurers hollered “collusion.” The bill was retooled but failed to get a final vote up or down.

Now, the CMA is seeking further amendments to the bill, which would allow doctors to sue insurers for rates that are not fair and reasonable.

The CMA also wants the bill to establish a process by which the director of the Department of Managed Health Care can personally resolve reimbursement disputes, or refer them to a “neutral facilitator.”

“We hope that court is never used,” said Shannon Smith-Crowley, the CMA’s associate director of government relations. “But we think plan behavior will change if they know there is a hammer.”

The state’s health plans vigorously fought the original bill, and the CMA doesn’t expect them to be on board now. The test of the two sides’ strength should come in a few weeks when the re-tooled bill hits the Senate floor.

Staff reporter Laurence Darmiento can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 237 or at

[email protected].

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