The center is one of 11,500 health-care facilities statewide that did not receive their normal weekly Medi-Cal check last week, and the same group is expected to miss another payment on Thursday, said Tony Cava, California Department of Health Services spokesman.
Those withheld payments amounted to $228 million last week, and next week the department expects to halt another $212.6 million on Thursday, Cava said.
Though the state's budget deadline was July 1, the department was able to make its July payments thanks to a $2-billion health- care contingency fund that was established by legislation in 1998, Cava said.
But that fund ran out in the last week of July, marking the first time the special reserve fund had ever been depleted, he said.
"It's never been a situation like this year," he said.
Large health-care providers, including Glendale's three major hospitals, have been affected to varying degrees.
At Verdugo Hills Hospital, only about 5% of the patient population is on a Medi-Cal plan, said Cindy Trousdale, the center's chief financial officer.
Glendale Adventist Medical Center, where Medi-Cal fully funds 25% of its patients, and partially funds another 8%, has felt more of an impact, but the hospital has a reserve fund and corporate backing to help it weather the delay, hospital spokeswoman Alicia Gonzales said.
Glendale Memorial Hospital, which also has internal cash reserves on which it can fall back, sees the budget impasse as little more than an inconvenience, said Karen Krug, hospital chief financial officer.
It's the smaller facilities that rely disproportionately on Medi-Cal that are struggling to keep their heads above water, said Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the California Hospital Assn.
