Healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente said it will give ailing Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital a $25-million grant to help expand its overcrowded emergency department.
The move comes as the Willowbrook hospital faces a dire financial picture, as The Times reported this month.
The Willowbrook hospital, which serves hundreds of mostly low-income emergency patients daily, anticipates losing $80 million to $100 million of annual funding as a result of Medicaid changes under last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or HR1, that go into effect in January.
“This magnificent gift from Kaiser Permanente expands space for patient care in our Hope Emergency Center — a critical need given the volume our emergency department handles,” Dr. Elaine Batchlor, chief executive of MLK Community Healthcare, said in an email. “This support,” she added, “will provide our community with the space it deserves.”
In order to assist with the expansion, Kaiser Permanente, a nonprofit integrated care and coverage organization, is providing the grant and loaning a $7-million modular building to ensure the hospital can continue emergency care uninterrupted while construction is underway.
“Our grant is about service and partnership for the benefit of the people of South Los Angeles,” said John Yamamoto, vice president for community health and government relations for Kaiser Permanente in Southern California.
He described the expansion as “a shovel-ready project that addresses a clear need for access to care and expanded emergency services.”
MLK Hospital currently treats some patients in large, air-conditioned tents set up on the asphalt outside. It has converted a waiting room, meditation room and other spaces into treatment areas.
The South L.A. hospital has operated in the red in recent years and received a total of $68 million in what amount to bailouts from the state and Los Angeles County between 2023 and 2025. Of that, $29 million came in the form of one-time payments of so-called “leftover” county funds collected via Measure B, a 2002 ballot initiative that levies a form of property tax.
The hospital has pushed for “ongoing” Measure B funding, which has been allocated to hospitals that have trauma centers — which MLK Hospital does not have — despite the fact that many of the 13 hospitals that have received the funds in recent years are in far better financial shape.
Last week, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a motion to hire a consultant to reevaluate how the county allocates Measure B funds.
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