California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of January 15, 2010
Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center
A California Department of Public Health report has found that Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center's violation of state regulations stemmed from the removal of the incorrect kidney in a patient, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
Department inspectors initiated their investigation after hospital officials reported the incident to the agency on July 15, 2009.
DPH spokesperson Ralph Montano said it is too soon to determine whether the department will fine the hospital because CMS still is investigating the incident (Hines, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 1/9).
Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, Mission Hills
The philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications recently awarded Providence Holy Cross Medical Center a two-year, $500,000 grant, Healthcare IT News reports.
The Verizon Foundation grant will be used for projects aimed at:
- Improving the hospital's efficiency and patient record accuracy; and
- Establishing health care outreach programs for uninsured Californians (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 1/8).
Tulare Regional Medical Center
On Jan. 11, Tulare Regional Medical Center CEO Shawn Bolouki said that the center's expansion project is moving forward, despite a $35 million shortfall, the Visalia Times-Delta reports.
Bolouki said that hospital officials are exploring different ways to generate the funds for the $120 million, four-level hospital expansion.
The expansion project will include an expanded emergency department, birthing rooms, helicopter landing pad and neonatal intensive care unit. Groundbreaking is scheduled for April and is expected to be completed by 2012, Bolouki said (Hernandez, Visalia Times-Delta, 1/12).
UC-Davis Health System
On Jan. 15, construction is scheduled to begin on the four-story, 52,000 square-foot California Telehealth Resource Center on the Sacramento campus of UC-Davis Health System, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
The $36.75 million addition is expected to be completed in the fall of 2011 and will be linked to the $46 million medical education building on the campus.
The center will be a communications hub between Sacramento and remote areas of California, as well as a resource for telehealth efforts among UC's five medical schools (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 1/12).
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