South Los Angeles' Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital lost $200 million in annual federal funding in mid-August after it failed an inspection by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The hospital will close all inpatient services as soon as possible.

King-Harbor Hospital closed its emergency room on Aug. 10, the same day that it received a CMS notification that it didn't meet several conditions required to pass a survey necessary to retain agency funding, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. In response to the closure, all 911 ambulances are being rerouted to nine hospitals in the area, while walk-in emergency patients are being driven by ambulance to one of those facilities, the DHS says.

"The doctors serving in the community health centers are very concerned with access to emergency care, and they're very concerned with patients not being educated on where they can go for emergency services," says Nina Vaccaro, director of the Southside Coalition of Community Clinics, a network of nonprofit clinics organized to improve care to the underserved in South Los Angeles. "We've had patients with third-degree burns and heart attacks walking into community health centers [nearby King-Harbor] to see their primary care doctors for care."

The DHS has a two-pronged plan for King-Harbor: preserve outpatient services at the hospital while supplementing them with offsite services; and begin the process of reopening the facility with the help of a private operator or an alternative arrangement through Los Angeles County. "The decision is a blow to the community, but the department will not operate a hospital that cannot meet national standards," said Bruce Chernof, MD, DHS director and chief medical officer, in a statement.