Some Want Legislative Help For Med Center

By Jennifer Loren, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- As legislators are under pressure to do something about the troubled OSU Medical Center and Tulsa's pending health care crisis, many Tulsans are calling on state lawmakers to fix our ailing health care system before it's too late.

OSU Medical Center appears to be losing a long battle to keep its doors open.  Hospital administrators place much of the blame on state legislators for denying the hospital funding to stay afloat.

"I personally think the legislature has created a crisis in Tulsa," said OSU Medical Center CEO Earl Denning.

State Representative Lucky Lamons agrees, saying Tulsa needs to fight harder for health care money in general.

"Oklahoma City gets $50 million for uncompensated care. Tulsa gets none. So, all we're asking for is a little bit of help. And, I think that the Tulsa delegation has been weak, at best, on pushing for more money to come to our local hospitals to take care of the indigent health care," said Representative Lucky Lamons.

Lamons has introduced an indigent health care bill to the house four years in a row, but it's never gotten anywhere.  If it had, he says, OSU Medical Center and Tulsa may not be in this situation.

"And, it takes these kind of things like this, a crisis, to make the legislature do something," said Representative Lucky Lamons.

He believes OSU Medical Center will close, sending thousands of patients to other already overcrowded emergency rooms and that's when legislators will be forced to deal with a real crisis.

State Representative Jeanne McDaniel believes the problem is more complicated than giving Tulsa the money Oklahoma City gets.  She says taking that approach is part of the problem.

"But, I think leaders look at OKC and see how much that facility costs and say do we want to do this again in Tulsa? You know, there has to be an end to what we can provide. I say we need to look at both cities and we need to look at the whole state," said Representative Jeanne McDaniel.

McDaniel believes legislators will vote to help Tulsa's hospitals.  She says she would like to see Tulsa leaders formulate a long-term plan and present it to legislators.

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