Making A Gift
There’s no doubt about it—health care is a rapidly changing industry. Technological advances have made new procedures and methods of diagnosis and treatment possible. Clinical developments such as organ transplants and less invasive surgical techniques have helped increase longevity and improved the quality of life for many Americans. Advances in information technology continue to improve patient care and worker efficiency.
Unfortunately, these lifesaving improvements come with a price tag. And with the ever-changing economics of insurance reimbursement, hospitals often find it difficult to incorporate the myriad of advances available to them.
The realities of health care economics are particularly dramatic at Downey Regional Medical Center. For example, the recent closure of Martin Luther King, Jr.- Harbor Hospital (MLK) in East Los Angeles has put serious new pressures on Downey Regional Medical Center. The majority of inpatients at MLK were Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Many of these patients are seeking care at Downey Regional Medical Center due to its geographic proximity. Caring for these additional patients under Medi-Cal will only extend our already significant losses under that program.
Yet the need for affordable and accessible health care programs and services and available and accessible emergency care are two of our community’s greatest health care needs. Downey Regional Medical Center has responded to these needs by providing:
Fortunately, Downey Regional Medical Center has an important partner that helps provide the funding needed for advanced health care technologies, even in the face of harsh economic realities. That partner is the Memorial Trust Foundation.
There’s no doubt about it—health care is a rapidly changing industry. Technological advances have made new procedures and methods of diagnosis and treatment possible. Clinical developments such as organ transplants and less invasive surgical techniques have helped increase longevity and improved the quality of life for many Americans. Advances in information technology continue to improve patient care and worker efficiency.
Unfortunately, these lifesaving improvements come with a price tag. And with the ever-changing economics of insurance reimbursement, hospitals often find it difficult to incorporate the myriad of advances available to them.
The realities of health care economics are particularly dramatic at Downey Regional Medical Center. For example, the recent closure of Martin Luther King, Jr.- Harbor Hospital (MLK) in East Los Angeles has put serious new pressures on Downey Regional Medical Center. The majority of inpatients at MLK were Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Many of these patients are seeking care at Downey Regional Medical Center due to its geographic proximity. Caring for these additional patients under Medi-Cal will only extend our already significant losses under that program.
Yet the need for affordable and accessible health care programs and services and available and accessible emergency care are two of our community’s greatest health care needs. Downey Regional Medical Center has responded to these needs by providing:
• Charity care for patients without the ability to pay for necessary treatment
• Absorbing the unpaid costs of care for patients covered by Medi-Cal
• Absorbing the unpaid costs of care for uninsured patients
• A financial assistance program for uninsured and under-insured patients
• Providing payment for physician services in the hospital’s Emergency Care Center and surgical areas
Fortunately, Downey Regional Medical Center has an important partner that helps provide the funding needed for advanced health care technologies, even in the face of harsh economic realities. That partner is the Memorial Trust Foundation.
