Century City Hospital Opens Outpatient AIDS, HIV Clinic

Administrators at Century City Hospital say they are hopeful that a new outpatient AIDS and HIV clinic adjacent to the medical center will attract more patients who require in-patient care.

The clinic, operated and staffed by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center in Hollywood, is expected to channel some AIDS and HIV patients to the hospital for in-patient services, said Nancy Franklin, a hospital spokeswoman.

If enough AIDS and HIV patients seek care at Century City, the hospital plans to open an in-patient AIDS unit.

Such a unit would include doctors and other medical staff trained in caring for AIDS and HIV-related illnesses, Franklin said.

Century City ran an AIDS unit for about 10 years until it was shut down last fall mostly because it lacked patients. Many patients had to go elsewhere for treatment because the hospital could not accept their insurance coverage, Franklin said.

Since the unit closed, the hospital has contracted with more insurance providers and is accepting broader coverage, Franklin said.

The new outpatient clinic is expecting to handle up to 800 AIDS patients, many in the last stages of the disease who eventually will need in-patient care, said Juan Ledesma, director of health programs for the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center.

Known as the Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic, the Century City location is a spinoff of a clinic by the same name in Hollywood. The Gay and Lesbian Services Center started the original clinic in Hollywood about three years ago, and it now treats about 1,500 patients, Ledesma said.

The clinic provides anonymous HIV testing, pharmaceuticals, diagnoses and treatment of all HIV-related conditions. Individual and group mental health programs also are available.