Catalina Island Health will ask the LA County Board of Supervisors for a one-time payment of $3 million from the Measure B fund.
Supervisor Janice Hahn, whose district includes Catalina Island, has made motion to approve the request. The supervisors will vote on the request on Tuesday, April 8.
“Measure B was approved by voters in November 2002 to provide revenue to support the countywide system of trauma centers, emergency medical services, trauma prevention and bioterroism response activities,” according to the LA County Auditor-Controller’s website.
“That property tax now raises $350M/year for a few hospitals in the county; CIH is not one of those hospitals. They have a surplus of $25M this year and we are asking for $3M,” according to the Catalina Island Health website.
“CIH is a Trauma Stabilization Provider and should have been receiving some of the Measure B funds for the last 20 years,” according to the Catalina Island Health website.
The hospital is asking the public to send a letter of support for the proposal to the Board of Supervisors.
In an April 2 email to the membership, Love Catalina Island Tourism Authority (the local Chamber of Commerce) has encouraged the business community to send letters to the Board of Supervisors encouraging their support. Love Catalina distributed a letter from Catalina Island Health and Catalina Island Health Foundation.
“CIH loses over $4M/year on Medi-Cal patients; that means that we have solid, audited documentation that it costs CIH $5M to deliver Medi-Cal care. Sure, we’d like to make a profit and get reimbursed $6M, BUT, in reality we only get reimbursed $1M for $5M in services,” according to the CIH/CIH Foundation letter.
As of 9 a.m., Thursday, April 3, the board had received zero comments on the request.
Hahn’s motion
“Like other rural hospitals, CIH has historically been a financially fragile medical institution, therefore, the closure of CIH would not only exacerbate local health inequities on the Island but would place an exorbitant financial burden on Los Angeles County (County),” Hahn wrote.
“There would also be a massive delay in treatment due to transportation accessibility and that delay in time could risk additional injury, harm, and even death to a patient,” Hahn wrote.
Due to the current financial status of CIH, an immediate, one-time cash infusion is necessary before CIH’s cashflow runs out in July of 2025, which will lead to an unprecedented, regionwide medical quagmire,” Hahn wrote.
“Measure B, which was a special tax that voters supported in 2002, exists for the sole purpose of funding the Countywide System of Trauma Centers, Emergency Medical Services, and Bioterrorism Response. Allotting CIH one-time, available funding through Measure B must be considered and approved for utilization for the County ’s goal of health equity for its over 10 million residents and decrease additional burden on the County ’s fiscal and workforce resources,” Hahn wrote.
