New Hospital Joins Los Angeles' Push Toward Quality Healthcare Improvements

There are many factors that contribute to the overall quality of an area’s healthcare programs, ranging from resources such as financial grants to the educational background of the healthcare professionals who work in the city or country. It is becoming increasingly common for major areas such as Los Angeles County to embrace the concept that quality healthcare standards can ultimately reduce expenses and provide a higher quality of life for each resident. With this in mind, there have been many initiatives put in place to improve healthcare quality, including the recent grand opening of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital.

Filling a Void

Eight years ago, the King/Drew Hospital was shuttered after a long history of inadequate care that led to several patient fatalities, multiple failed inspections and the loss of federal funding. Getting rid of this hospital was a necessity from a quality healthcare perspective, but it still left the area with a lack of quality options. County officials began discussing plans for rebuilding the hospital back in 2009, but the road from closing King/Drew to opening a new hospital that would meet quality requirements has not been an easy one.

Fortunately, Los Angeles County ended up committing the necessary financial resources to construct and open the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, and they have also pledged to provide $68 million annually to ensure that the facility continues to move forward in the right direction. This has helped reduce the area’s need for available hospital beds, even though the new building is only about 1/3 the size of its predecessor.

The newly opened hospital is an exciting development for local area residents, and it is also part of a major push toward improving the county’s healthcare. Other factors that are currently local hot button topics for healthcare quality include politicians and the cost of insurance.

Politics and Local Healthcare Quality

Politics and healthcare have been entwined for a long time, and the Affordable Care Act has further cemented the relationship between these two vastly different worlds. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly common for political candidates to pick a specific side and use it as part of their campaign efforts.

Earlier this month, Hillary Clinton visited Los Angeles, and a major portion of her time in the city was spent discussing healthcare issues with homecare providers. There is no way to know for certain what a politician will actually do if they are voted in to office, but discussions of this nature are still necessary and should be bipartisan to help ensure that everyone has access to quality healthcare.

According to ABC7 Los Angeles, Clinton indicated that she believes every politician should back improvements for healthcare workers, including increased paychecks and better training opportunities. Graduates of a quality healthcare program will come equipped with a vast amount of knowledge. However, the medical world is constantly evolving, and this makes continual education a vital aspect of any healthcare worker’s career.

Healthcare Expenses for Residents

Media reports have stated that California’s state-run insurance marketplace will experience an average state-wide premium increase of 4 percent in 2016. This is actually a slight reduction in the increase amount that residents faced at the beginning of 2015. The good news for people living in Los Angeles is that the county itself should only see an increase of 1.8 percent. A nominal change of this manner, combined with increased hospital access, puts the city of Los Angeles in a good position for providing quality healthcare.

Proper healthcare quality controls can prevent future scandals that are reminiscent of the closing of the King/Drew Hospital. Today’s medical students are often given the opportunity to specifically enroll in programs about healthcare quality. When you add a higher number of insured residents and political assistance into the mix, Los Angeles County ends up with a solid recipe for current healthcare success and additional future improvements.