Accreditation Coup De Grâce

A Reeling King/Drew Receives Huge Blow | LAT | 9.16.04

A national accrediting group Wednesday recommended pulling its seal of approval from beleaguered Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, an extremely rare step that further threatens the public hospital’s survival.

Signaling that the medical center has failed to correct severe lapses in patient care, the national Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) voted to begin the process of revoking King/Drew’s accreditation.

The proposed move is primarily a huge public relations blow for the Los Angeles County-owned hospital. But it also could have crippling practical effects, including the potential loss of physician-training programs and $14.8 million in private insurance contracts. Another less likely possibility is losing $200 million in annual federal funding if the hospital cannot assure government regulators that it meets their safety standards. …

King/Drew Trauma Unit Faces Closure | LAT | 9.14.04

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Monday unexpectedly moved to shut down the trauma unit at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, immediately drawing the ire of physicians, politicians and community activists.

The only public hospital serving a large swath of South Los Angeles, King/Drew treats more trauma patients than any other hospital in the region except County-USC Medical Center.

The proposed trauma closure, expected to take effect in about 90 days, amounts to a last-ditch scramble to save a foundering hospital that repeatedly has been cited by regulators for harming patients and in some cases contributing to their deaths. …

King/Drew is now in a death spiral. If they lose their accreditation—which they will, both governmental and non–governmental dollars will cease to flow, the residency programs (“cheap labor”) will close (or positions will go unmatched)—which will all add to the tremendous and ever–mounting financial burden on LA County. Where will the displaced sevice population of King/Drew go? Out into the community that is already over–burdened. Death blow to King/Drew, but a significant blow to all of southern California—the first significant domino is falling …