Kaiser Permanente has committed up to $32 million to support the expansion of the Hope Emergency Center at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles, according to an Aug. 11 news release shared with Becker’s.
The commitment includes a $25 million charitable grant, the largest gift in the hospital’s history, along with the purchase and loan of a $7 million modular building to keep emergency care running during construction. The funding will also support long-term improvements to emergency services in South Los Angeles.
The 131-bed nonprofit hospital opened in 2015. Its emergency department was designed with up to 29 treatment bays for 25,000 visits a year and is now seeing about 125,000 annually, with patients triaged and treated in tents in the parking lot, according to the release. About 80% of patients are covered by Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, and nearly 95% of emergency department visits involve patients on Medi-Cal or Medicare or who are uninsured.
“This is about more than expanding an emergency department. It is about strengthening the healthcare infrastructure that Los Angeles families depend on today and will continue to rely on for generations to come,” Greg Adams, chair and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, said in the release.
Elaine Batchlor, MD, CEO of MLK Community Healthcare, said the gift strengthens the hospital’s ability to offer care in a safe, dignified setting.
The hospital is preparing for $80 million to $100 million in annual Medicaid cuts tied to HR 1 and is seeking a share of Measure B, a voter-approved Los Angeles County tax supporting emergency and trauma services.
Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, founded in 1945, serves 12.9 million members in nine states and Washington, D.C.
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