California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of September 20, 2013
Clovis Community Medical Center
Last week, the Fresno County Superior Court began hearing testimony in a wrongful death suit brought by the family of a patient who bled to death after a routine surgery at Clovis Community Medical Center, the AP/Sacramento Bee reports.
The family of the patient, Nicole Caruso, filed the medical malpractice suit when she passed away about 14 hours after undergoing surgery to remove a birth control device and undergo tubal ligation at the hospital on April 13, 2011.
Attorneys for the hospital and a doctor involved in the lawsuit argue that their clients acted within the standard of care (AP/Sacramento Bee, 9/14).
Dameron Hospital, Stockton
Dameron Hospital in Stockton is one of only a few hospitals in the U.S. -- and the only one with fewer than 500 beds -- to have installed a mass spectrometer system called the Vitek MS, which enables laboratories in only a few hours to identify bacteria and yeasts that are known to cause serious illnesses or infections, the Stockton Record reports (Goldeen, Stockton Record, 9/16).
El Camino Hospital, Silicon Valley
The number of patients at El Camino Hospital who pay their medical bills online increased from 2% to 33% in the six months since the hospital installed the Simplee online payment platform, according to a Simplee-conducted case study, Becker's Hospital Review reports.
The study also found that hospital staff has spent 40% less time managing payments and collections since the system was installed (Adamopoulos, Becker's Hospital Review, 9/16).
Palliative Care Center Silicon Valley
Last week, the Palliative Care Center Silicon Valley -- a division of the not-for-profit Hospice of the Valley -- opened as the first free-standing outpatient center of its kind in the state, the Contra Costa Times reports.
The center offers pain and symptom management, emotional and practical support, health insurance navigation services, counseling and complementary therapies to people at any stage of a serious illness, such as cancer, kidney failure or Alzheimer's disease (Krieger, Contra Costa Times, 9/13).
UC-Davis Medical Center
On Tuesday, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society awarded the 2013 Enterprise HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence to the UC-Davis Medical Center, Healthcare IT News reports.
Health care providers seeking the award were required to achieve either Stage 6 or Stage 7 on the HIMSS Analytics EHR Adoption Model and demonstrate how they used their EHR systems to achieve patient safety, health care delivery and ROI goals.
UC-Davis Medical Center will be recognized at the 2013 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in February 2014 (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 9/17).
Washington Hospital
Last month, the Washington Township Health Care District approved a 2013-14 budget plan that leaves Washington Hospital with $11 million in operating profits, up from $8.4 million in 2012, the Contra Costa Times reports.
The hospital also expects a $110 million increase in patient service revenue in 2013, although it will have to pay certain costs to implement parts of the Affordable Care Act (McGlone, Contra Costa Times, 9/12).
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