On March 7, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to adopt a resolution that will provide $33.3 million in additional revenue for trauma and emergency services through January 2009. Physicians who treat uninsured patients in the ER will benefit, as will all hospitals that deliver unfunded care.

The resolution is tied to SB 1773, which was authored by then State Sen. Richard Alarcon and signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. SB 1773 allows individual counties to levy additional penalties for criminal offenses and traffic violations to pay for emergency medical services provided to indigent patients and to bolster funding for pediatric trauma care.

"The supervisors' action represents the successful closure of a project that the Los Angeles County Medical Association, along with other healthcare organizations, has been heavily involved in for the past two and a half years," says Ralph Di Libero, MD, LACMA president. "Implementation of this measure will maintain the availability and quality of trauma and emergency care countywide. Over the past four years in Los Angeles County, 10 hospitals and emergency departments have shut down putting a weak system in even more crisis. The $33.3 million in additional funding is a very strong commitment by our county supervisors to LA residents."