An organization founded 90 years ago by movie stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith to support workers in the movie and TV industry is seeing the Klieglight at the end of a dark tunnel.
On Feb. 23, the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) announced that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Providence Health and Services California, a Catholic nonprofit operating five acute care medical centers in the Los Angeles area.
The proposed relationship between MPTF and Providence would save MPTF’s famed hospital and skilled nursing home in Woodland Hills, Calif., which was facing a shutdown.
National media reports have chronicled the rocky road MPTF’s board has been traveling since its 2009 announcement of the impending closure of its hospital and nursing home. The board has faced public criticism, lawsuits from some of the relatives of patients, state inspection of MPTF’s facilities, complaints filed with the California Department of Public Health, and fines.
“Over the last year,” said Bob Beitcher, chief executive officer of MPTF in a statement, “I have been working closely with my fellow board members and management to find a positive resolution to our long-term care and acute care issue. With this letter of intent, the framework is now in place to accomplish that. The new affiliation with Providence Health and Services will create a vibrant medical campus with services never before available to our industry members. It exceeds all expectations by providing continuity for our current long-term care residents and a continuum of care for our 180 campus residents in independent and assisted living, including long-term care and our dementia care unit, Harry’s Haven.”
The proposed agreement also allows the UCLA Health System to locate a new neurological rehabilitation unit to MPTF’s hospital campus. Additionally, the Woodland Hills campus would add more medical services, some of which, such as skilled nursing, palliative care and other post-acute care units, would be available to the general public.
MPTF’s primary care network of seven health centers in southern California will not be affected by the arrangement between MPTF and Providence.
The two organizations hope to complete definitive agreements later this year.