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Published on 02/15/1999 All articles from this issue

El Camino CEO fights feds over hospital funds

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By Carol Tiegs

Special to the Town Crier

El Camino Hospital Administrator and CEO Richard Warren was mistaken for Senator Henry Hyde during a recent legislative effort in Washington, D.C.

Unfortunately, Warren said, the capitol was so absorbed in the Clinton impeachment trial that it "overshadowed" legislators' interest in health care issues.

Warren reported on the trip at the regular meeting of the El Camino Hospital Board of Directors Feb. 10. The mission was "an attempt to redress inequities for California's hospitals contained in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997."

One message Warren and his delegation carried to Congress is the unique burden placed on California's hospitals by state requirements to complete seismic retrofitting by 2008. Congress referred the group back to the California legislature, Warren said. There are signs that the state may be more flexible, he said.

El Camino has surveyed all of its buildings, Warren said. Costs to repair or replace buildings for seismic soundness range from $40 million to $100 million, with expenses of $300,000 and $100,000 estimated in 2001 and 2002, respectively, he said.

The hospital is district is acting to addresse the needs of children without medical care insurance.

According to board president Dr. Paul Hoar, 37 percent of California children are affected. He said Congress enacted the Children's Health Insurance Program, which grants $24 billion to states over five years to administer health programs for poor children. California has expanded MediCal coverage and created the Healthy Families program to insure low-income children, he said.

The board sees El Camino, as a district hospital, in a unique position to help. Hoar announced a proposal, "Camino Kids," that would meld district tax receipts with federal and state program resources to create a demonstration program.

Camino Kids "would serve as an example for all other district hospitals in California and provide a template for multi-level, government cooperation throughout the United States," Hoar said Feb. 10.