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Los Angeles hospital loses accreditation

Hospital Safety Connection, February 3, 2005

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Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles lost it's accreditation this week after repeated lapses in patient care, the Los Angeles Times reported.

While the hospital will not close due to the accreditation loss, private insurance companies may no longer pay for care there.

"It's a stain on the hospital," county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky told the Times. "We lost the accreditation because the hospital is in an absolute mess. It's far worse than anybody had known."

The hospital is only the second to lose its Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' (JCAHO) accreditation in California in the last year.

The JCAHO inspection in August revealed incompetent employees, failures to prevent hospital-acquired infections, inconsistent patient care, failure to maintain medical equipment and incomplete medical charts.

While hospital officials anticipated the accreditation loss, they are working to win back accreditation through the help of a consulting firm.

At the end of the month, the hospital must survive a visit by the federal to determine whether the facility should continue to receive its CMS funding.

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