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COMMUNITY HOSPITAL LONG BEACH

City of Long Beach efforts to meet State seismic requirements and sustain hospital services

Community Hospital of Long Beach
Community Hospital of Long Beach (Community Hospital) is a 158 licensed bed, acute and psychiatric care hospital located at 1720 Termino Avenue in Long Beach. General acute care hospitals in California are required by law to be licensed by the California Department of Public Health and meet State seismic compliance requirements. Hospitals must also have a duly constituted governing body with overall administrative and professional responsibility and an organized medical staff which provides 24- hour inpatient care, including the following 8 basic services: medical, nursing, surgical, anesthesia, laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, and dietary services. Community Hospital currently meets these requirements, and provides psychiatric care services.

On October 30, 2017, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center notified the City of Long Beach that they would be unable to meet the State’s seismic compliance requirements. As a result, Memorial plans to cease operations at Community Hospital by June 30, 2019, if not earlier due to staffing shortages.

In response, the Mayor and Long Beach City Council directed the City of Long Beach to explore all available options for meeting State seismic compliance requirements and maintain existing hospital services at Community Hospital.

Efforts towards understanding the magnitude of changes that must be made at Community Hospital to meet State seismic compliance are underway. The City expects this process will take some time, and is actively working with Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell to seek an extension to the State’s seismic compliance requirement deadline.

PUBLIC MEETINGS

October 16, 2018 Community Hospital Stakeholder Meeting

On Tuesday night, the first "stakeholder meeting" was held for the public to express their vision for the new Community Hospital. After a brief presentation from MWN's John Molina, the new operator of the hospital, the large audience was able to provide input on what services they'd like to see provided. We captured that input, and the list of services can be viewed at the CHLB Foundation website. Please feel free to submit your suggestions to our office or to the Foundation. Thanks to all the stakeholders for taking the time to attend the meeting. Press coverage of the event can be found here and here.

COMMUNITY HOSPITAL UPDATES

February 9, 2022: Acute Care No Longer Licensed Effective January 1, 2022
On January 14, 2022, CDPH, Licensing and Certification Program, Los Angeles District Office, formally notified MWN that acute care is no longer licensed at site effective January 1, 2022.

 
May 11, 2021: Community Hospital Emergency Room Re-Opens
Community Hospital’s ER department reopened Wednesday afternoon, May 11, after being closed for nearly three years. The emergency department reopened with 20 beds that will, for now, be used for walk-in and transfer patients.

December 31, 2020: Community Hospital Long Beach Receives State Licensure; Reopens for Transfer Patients January 4
The City of Long Beach announced today that Community Hospital Long Beach (CHLB) has been granted a license from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and will be able to accept patient transfers as soon as Monday, January 4, 2021

Press Release

December 9, 2019: City of Long Beach, MWN Sign Contract to Reopen Community Hospital Long Beach
The City of Long Beach today signed a long-term lease and operating agreement between the City of Long Beach and the Molina, Wu, Network, LLC (MWN) healthcare group that paves the way for the reopening of Community Hospital Long Beach (Community Hospital). MWN is a partnership between Pacific 6 Enterprises, AHMC Healthcare, Inc. and Network Medical Management.

Press Release

October 15, 2019: City Council Approves Long-Tern Community Hospital Lease

At its Tuesday, October 15th meeting, the City Council voted to approve a long-term lease with Community Hospital operator, Molina, Wu, Network (MWN). The lease became effective the day of the vote. A summary of terms can be found below.

  • Lease term will be up to 45 years plus two 10-year extensions (upon hospital opening).
  • MWN will pay $1 per year plus 20% of hospital net profits for the first 5 years.
  • MWN will be responsible to perform improvements and maintain the property
  • City will reimburse MWN for 50% of seismic costs, not to exceed $25M in annual payments over a 15-year period.
  • MWN is expected to make a good faith effort to hire current Community Hospital Long Beach staff that have been impacted by the change in operators.
View presentation for additional information. 

May 31, 2019: Extension for Seismic Compliance Approved 

The Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) has approved Community Hospital of Long Beach (Community Hospital) for a seismic extension through January 1, 2025. This extension was made possible through changes in State laws that became effective on January 1, 2019 as a results f the passage of AB 2190 (Reyes) during the 218 State legislative session. Click here for more information. 

May 8, 2019: Pacific Gateway to Assist with Staffing of Community Hospital

As Community Hospital of Long Beach moves forward with plans to re-open, Molina Wu Network (MWN) is partnering with Pacific Gateway to help facilitate the staffing of Community Hospital.  This process begins with the gathering of information from previous Community Hospital staff, and will include the on-boarding of new and existing workers through Summer 2019.  For more information, please visit their webpage.

 
July 5, 2018: LEMSA Report on Community Hospital

The City of Long Beach and MemorialCare announced that they have finalized the terms and entered into a Transition Agreement, effective July 3, to facilitate the transition of operations of Community Medical Center by the City.  

May 1, 2018: LEMSA Report on Community Hospital

On May 1st the County Board of Supervisors adopted  the County Emergency Medical Services Agency’s Impact Evaluation Report, indicating that MemorialCare’s closure of CHLB will result in significant, negative impacts for vulnerable residents, including:

  • Longer travel times to reach emergency services
  • Longer out-of-service times for EMS personnel engaged in patient transports to more distant hospitals
  • Loss of geographic availability of basic emergency department services for residents in east Long Beach, Signal Hill, and northwest Seal Beach
  • Loss of a community resources for disaster response purposes
  • Loss of 30 critical care beds and 28 psychiatric beds
  • Increased utilization of 9-1-1 by citizens who currently walk or drive to CHLB.


April 30, 2018 at 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Community Hospital Update from Patrick H. West, City Manager

The City of Long Beach (City) is in receipt of MemorialCare’s new license at Community Hospital of Long Beach (Community Hospital).  It is for 158-beds from April 29, 2018 through April 28, 2019.  With that said, MemorialCare is continuing to take every step necessary to wind down operations.  The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to adopt written findings and recommendations on the closure of Community Hospital on May 1, 2018.

April 11, 2018 from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. HOSTED by LEMSA

Location: The Grand (Catalina Room) 4101 E. Willow St., Long Beach, CA 90815

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors requested that the Emergency Medical Services Commission (EMSC) conduct a public hearing in the City of Long Beach to address the planned closure of Community Medical Center Long Beach. This hearing was held in response to the March 7, 2018 written notification from Long Beach Medical Center, operator of Community Medical Center Long Beach, located at 1720 Termino Ave, of the intent to eliminate emergency medical services as part of its closure of the entire hospital due to its inability to meet seismic compliance. 

The public hearing was scheduled in accordance with County policies and procedures, which require at least one public hearing within 30 days following a hospital provider’s notification of intent to downgrade hospital services. MemorialCare originally provided LEMSA with written intent to divert advanced life support (ALS) ambulances from Community Hospital on March 7, 2018.


April 3, 2018 from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. HOSTED by City of Long Beach, the Mayor and City Council

Location: Long Beach City Council Chambers, 333 W. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90802
The City of Long Beach, the Mayor and City Council presided over this Study Session, which was a public meeting to speak to a status update from City on our efforts to preserve hospital services at Community Hospital.


March 27, 2018 : The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to support AB 2591 (O’Donnell).  The intent of this legislation is to provide the City with additional time to identify a plan to meet State seismic compliance at Community Hospital, while allowing a new hospital operator to continue providing acute and behavioral care services at the facility.


March 16, 2018: MemorialCare formally responded to the City’s request for the hospital operator to provide plans demonstrating an ability to adequately serve patients who can no longer use Community Hospital, as well as confirmation that the hospital license at Community Hospital will be renewed for acute and behavioral health care through April 28, 2019.


March 15, 2018: The City of Long Beach requested the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (LEMSA) to enforce all State and County laws and regulations, as well as required noticing timeframes and procedures related to a reduction in hospital services or potential closure.


March 12, 2018 – The California Department of Public Health issued a notice of violation against MemorialCare for the diversion of Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances without having given 90-day public notice of intent to reduce services at Community Hospital, as required by State law.


March 8, 2018: The Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (LEMSA) issued an order to divert Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances from Community Hospital, effective March 9, 2018 at 7:00 a.m. Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulances will continue to be accepted.


March 5, 2018: MemorialCare formally notified the City of Long Beach of their decision to fully terminate the lease agreement at Community Hospital, effective July 3, 2018.


February 16, 2018: Mayor Garcia and the Long Beach City Council formally: (1) declined the proposal presented by the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center to allow the General Acute Care Hospital license to expire, and transition Community Hospital to an expanded acute psychiatric hospital; (2) requested that the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center Board of Directors renew both acute psychiatric hospital and general acute care hospital licenses for the period of April 29, 2018 to April 28, 2019 to provide the City time to identify alternatives to keep Community Hospital operational; and (3) provide written approval for the City to engage with potential future partners including but not limited to buyers, developers and operators.


February 15, 2018: Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell introduces State legislation to extend the OSHPD compliance deadline at Community Hospital. The purpose of AB 2591 is to provide the City of Long Beach more time to develop a long-term plan for Community Hospital.


January 11, 2018: Vizient, serving as an independent third-party consultant, issued a Needs Assessment specific to acute care, psychiatric care, and the 8 basic services at Community Hospital.


December 29, 2017: City of Long Beach staff meet with the Community Hospital Foundation to tour the facility with a focus on better understanding specific buildings and their associated OSHPD seismic performance ratings.


November 14, 2017: The Long Beach City Council conducted a Study Session that was open to the public. This Study Session included two presentations, one from City of Long Beach (City) staff, and a second from Memorial Care staff. This study session also included an opportunity for the public and the City Council to comment on priorities.


October 30, 2017: At an in-person meeting, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center informed the City of Long Beach that they are unable to meet State seismic safety standards for acute care facilities at Community Hospital, and that Long Beach Memorial Medical Center would be unable to operate Community Hospital after June 30, 2019.

COMMUNITY HOSPITAL

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