Providence Mission Hospital Abandons Micro-Hospital Plan for Laguna Beach

Providence Mission Hospital Drops Laguna Beach Micro-Hospital Plan Over $160-Million Gap

On Tuesday, November 3, Providence Mission Hospital informed Laguna Beach officials that it will not build or operate a small-scale hospital on its South Laguna campus, effectively ending discussions to preserve local emergency medical services in the town, latimes.com and ocregister.com reported.

The decision brings an abrupt halt to an agreement struck last September, when city leaders and the healthcare operator first sat down to study the feasibility of placing a micro-hospital on the 22-acre campus. According to hospital officials, a thorough evaluation revealed a $160-million funding gap before even factoring in ongoing operating costs. “After careful evaluation, we have concluded that a smaller-scale hospital is not a clinically, operationally and financially sustainable model,” Providence stated on Tuesday.

Instead of an acute care facility with a 24/7 emergency department, Providence intends to push forward with a $40-million investment to build an outpatient-focused advanced care center on the existing site. The facility is slated to feature advanced imaging, including CT scans, X-rays, MRIs, ultrasounds, and mammography, alongside urgent care, laboratory services, and outpatient surgery geared initially toward elective orthopedic procedures.

Providence Mission Hospital Abandons Micro-Hospital Plan for Laguna Beach — Photo: ocregister.com

Laguna Beach’s hospital was originally built in 1959 following the tragic 1953 in-transit death of wounded police officer Gordon French, who succumbed to his injuries while being transported to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach. Tensions over losing that local safety net have simmered since January, when Seth Teigen briefed the city on the impending closure of acute care ahead of a 2030 state-mandated seismic compliance deadline carrying estimated costs between $300 million and $350 million. Public pushback has been fueled by an online petition on Change.org that has gathered 8,685 signatures since April.

City Leaders Push for Data While Weighing Ambulance Transit Times

City officials expressed disappointment following Tuesday’s briefing, noting they had expected to review the feasibility study alongside a 16-member community hospital task force later in the month. Councilmembers Alex Rounaghi and Bob Whalen, who serve on an ad hoc committee pertaining to hospital matters, pointed out that the actual study was not presented during the meeting. “Right now, we don’t have a study for them to review, so we need to see that study,” Rounaghi said in a phone interview.

Leaders are also pressing the operator to demonstrate what impact the loss of the town’s sole emergency room will have on residents and neighboring communities. In 2016, the [state] attorney general weighed in and said that closing the emergency department would have a significant impact on Laguna and the surrounding community, and local leaders maintain that no evidence has surfaced to alter that conclusion. Meanwhile, data from the hospital shows the current emergency department handles roughly 17,000 visits annually, with about 3,400 patients requiring admission.

“Our fire department, who runs our ambulance service, has looked at delivery times to the other locations, and it’s best case 25 minutes to either Kaiser up the canyon, or ‘Big Mission’ Mission Viejo, or Hoag Newport,” Whalen said. “… [Rounaghi] has done the ride-along, and it was an hour and 40 minutes [round trip] to ‘Big Mission’ on a summer weekend.”

With Providence firmly closing the door on running an acute care hospital in Laguna Beach, Whalen indicated that the city’s next step must involve searching for an entirely different operator willing to step in and serve the community before the emergency room shuts its doors by January 1, 2030.