California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of December 18, 2015
Dignity Health
Dignity Health is joining the California Integrated Data Exchange -- a statewide health information exchange created by Blue Shield of California and Anthem Blue Cross -- as a foundational provider organization, according to a release.
Dignity initially will connect five hospitals in the Sacramento region to Cal INDEX and eventually plans to have all of its 32 California facilities participating (Cal INDEX release, 12/17).
John Muir Health, San Ramon Regional Medical Center
John Muir Health and San Ramon Regional Medical Center have opened a joint outpatient center, according to a release.
The services offered at the new Pleasanton Outpatient Center include primary, pediatric, urgent and specialty care, as well as care coordination and wellness services (John Muir Health release, 12/15).
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente plans to donate $14 million to support a financially struggling safety-net hospital and construction of a new youth and family center, Inside Bay Area reports.
The majority of the money -- $9 million -- will go to the St. Rose Hospital, which has the only emergency department in Hayward. Meanwhile, $5 million will help fund the construction of a new youth and family center in South Hayward (Parr, Inside Bay Area, 12/14).
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
On Friday, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center officials announced that more than 1,000 individuals in the maternity wing of the facility may have been exposed to active tuberculosis, the New York Times reports.
Hospital officials said that 350 infants, 308 employees and 368 parents -- mostly mothers -- could have been exposed to the disease by a nurse who was diagnosed with active tuberculosis (Stack, New York Times, 12/13). The employee was put on leave, and most affected families were notified by Monday.
Days after the announcement, hospital officials said that testing had begun and that no new cases of tuberculosis had been found. Meanwhile, employees who worked with the nurse are being screened, while some families already have received preventative antibiotics (Serna, Los Angeles Times, 12/14).
UC-San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland
The biological father of a girl who in 2013 was declared brain dead at UC-San Francisco's Benioff Children's Hospital has filed a lawsuit against the hospital and the surgeon who performed the procedure, the AP/Washington Times reports (AP/Washington Times, 12/15).
Jahi McMath was declared brain dead on Dec. 12, 2013, three days after she had tonsil surgery to help her with sleep apnea. McMath now receives around-the-clock medical care in New Jersey (California Healthline, 3/6).
The patient went into cardiac arrest after the surgery and was declared brain dead, but her mother maintains that she is alive.
A spokesperson for the hospital declined to comment, noting that the hospital has not yet been served the lawsuit (AP/Washington Times, 12/15).
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