The law, called the Surplus Land Act, was a major hurdle in the city’s plan to pay back significant losses to the hospital’s operator, Molina Wu Network, by transferring ownership of the 8.7-acre property in East Long Beach.
City officials put Long Beach on the hook for millions of dollars in losses amassed by Community Hospital’s new operator. Now the bill is due.
A 2019 law has thrown into jeopardy a proposed plan for the city to hand over the now-closed hospital to its operator for a mental health and wellness campus.
The operator plans to operate Community as a mental wellness campus and is exploring the possibility of adding housing to the site.
As of Wednesday morning, the emergency department will no longer accept ambulance dispatches. The department will fully, permanently close one week later.
The move lets MWN—and the city—avoid paying tens of millions of dollars for seismic repairs at the property, a burden that prompted the previous operator, MemorialCare, to abandon the facility.
After years of work, challenges and delays, city and hospital leaders celebrated the grand reopening of Community Hospital Long Beach Thursday with a ribbon cutting ceremony in front of the nearly century-old facility.
An ambulance delivered at least one patient to Community Hospital Monday for the first time in nearly three years, the hospital operator confirmed.
After nearly three years, the Community Hospital Long Beach emergency department is now open, marking a crucial turning point for the facility, operator Molina, Wu, Network announced Wednesday.
The first patient was transferred from College Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon. Additional patients are expected to arrive in the coming days and weeks, though agreements with some facilities still need to be ironed out, officials said.
