MLKCH’s "remarkable" transformation highlighted in Medscape

An in-depth article in Medscape describes "can-do attitude and hard work" that have rebuilt MLKCH into an award-winning hospital and health system more than a decade after the closing of a troubled public hospital.

"Now, more than 5 years later, MLKCH is a highly rated hospital and health system," the article notes, with "remarkable" leadership and staff and some of the best safety and satisfaction measures in California.

The article notes that pre-existing conditions – specifically epidemic-level rates of chronic disease – drove Covid-19 in South LA and a direct reflection of the decades of medical neglect underserved communities experienced. "Addressing these systemic inequities required a complete re-imagining of how medical care should be delivered," the article noted.

That reimagining includes the new, non-profit MLK Community Medical Group set up to provide preventive and primary care, community health outreach programs to arrest the high prevalence of diabetes and other chronic diseases, and visionary philanthropic support to attract the medical best and brightest to work in South LA.

MLKCH CEO Dr. Elaine Batchlor’s vision of high-quality healthcare, willingness to think outside the box to find solutions, and astuteness in navigating the political landscape is particularly called out in the article.

"For a formerly failed public hospital to turn it around and garner this much good will is remarkable," says former Supervisor and now City Council member Mark Ridley-Thomas, who is quoted in the article. "What makes it even more remarkable is how well the hospital is doing, which I attribute to the board, to the executive leadership and to the staff."

Read the full article here.

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