Thoughts?

[Celiac Plexus]

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Just curious what you emergency medicine folks think about this article.... Any ED residents in the L.A. area feeling the strain yet?

"King-Harbor, which has about 1,600 employees, handled about 50,000 emergency room patients last year. A contingency plan is already in place to shift patients to other hospitals, and officials have said they would try to find a private operator to take over the facility and reopen it, perhaps in a year."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070811/ap_on_he_me/troubled_hospital

 

[USCDiver]

<snip>
During the past few years, Los Angeles County tried to improve patient care through disciplining workers, reorganizing management, closing the trauma unit and reducing the number of inpatient beds to 48.

<snip>

King-Harbor, which has about 1,600 employees, handled about 50,000 emergency room patients last year. A contingency plan is already in place to shift patients to other hospitals, and officials have said they would try to find a private operator to take over the facility and reopen it, perhaps in a year.

1600 employees for 48 inpatient beds?! No wonder they can't get their **** straight.

 

[Sessamoid]

My thoughts? I think the other downtown hospitals are going to be hating life even more than they are now very, very soon.

 

[ERMudPhud]

Thoughts?

I think Macgyver is wrong... ...and broke

I told you guys in the other thread (that got closed) that I would bet my entire fortune that MLK will not be shut down.


I guaran-damn-tee you that CMS will NOT pull funding. Wait till the Congressional Black Caucus gets ahold of this, they'll raise a stink you wont soon forget. The NAACP will stage marches. Governor Arnold and the LA mayor will come out and blast the federal government if any attempt to withold funds is made.

 

[Flopotomist]

Thoughts?

I think Macgyver is wrong... ...and broke

My prediction (based on no knowledge whatsoever) is that voila! A new hospital opens up soon in the same facility with a new name, and a new senior administration. Of course, all the old staff will be hired back, and all the same problems will follow.

 

[elwademd]

i'm an internal medicine resident in the l.a. area, and this has been coming for quite a while.

there are a lot of groups/physicians/entities that would love to take over that hospital, given the need in that area. of course the question has been how to get it done.

while i understand that people may be upset that they are closing, some of the fronts that they failed on are completely unacceptable:

http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-kingharbor,0,4175596.story?coll=ktla-promo-layout

CMS reported that the hospital failed the inspection in eight categories -- governing body, patients' rights, quality assessment/performance improvement, nursing services, pharmaceutical services, physical environment, infection control and emergency services.

In a letter to hospital CEO Antionette Smith Epps, CMS officials said serious failures included:

-- a lack of supervision for ER patients who are a danger to themselves or others;

-- patients placed at serious risk of exposure to tuberculosis;

-- staff unable to locate critical equipment and medications on the pediatric emergency cart, and unable to correctly calculate dosages for medication administered to pediatric patients; and

-- staff failed to analyze pharmacy data adequately for medication errors.

with that said, the hospitals in the area have already been taking/accepting patients from there for over the past year. so i suppose now it's a bit more official.

 

[Miami_med]

I can't imagine that anyone can turn a profit on a hospital in which nobody pays.

 

[Dimoak]

I'm not an expert, but it seems like what may happen is the county and state governments may offer a lucrative incentives package for any private entity that taking over the hospital. This may then technically qualify the facility as a "new hospital", essentially buying them more time to turn things around and meet federal requirements while still keeping the hospital's doors open.

 

[EctopicFetus]

The issue is simply one of money. If no one is gonna pay for the care why would any group decide to run a hospital there? Exactly.. no one knows.. There will have to be some big time county money dumped in there EVERY year. This is simply how it is.

We have a similar issue where I am at.