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Hospital funding hinges on care of aggressive patients

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, February 9, 2005

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A week after losing its JCAHO accreditation, Los Angeles-based Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center is preparing to pass a surprise inspection by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sometime before February 18, according to a Daily Breeze article.

About $200 million in annual federal funding depends on the way doctors, nurses, and security officers respond to a threatening or aggressive patient. The hospital has previously been criticized for resorting too quickly to police officers in response to these patients. There was at least one complaint about the use of a Taser on a patient.

In response, King/Drew has adjusted its response procedure to include psychiatric technicians instead of security officers on the clinical team. This way, the clinical team will do everything possible to calm the patient before calling in police, said John Wallace, county health spokesman.

"When you've tried everything you can, then and only then you turn it over and make it a law enforcement issue," he said.

Staff have been training since December, when King/Drew failed its CMS inspection.

The JCAHO pulled the hospital's accreditation on February 1 after determining that patient care was inadequate. Most insurance companies require that hospitals are JCAHO-accredited to be reimbursed for nonemergency care, but King/Drew treats few insured patients. The hospital will lose a portion of the $14 million that comes from these private insurance companies until it can restore its accreditation in nine to 12 months, said Wallace.

To read the complete Daily Breeze article, click here.

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