California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of March 2, 2012
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Berkeley
Workers have completed construction on Alta Bates Summit Medical Center's 250,000 square-foot patient care center that is expected to open in 2014, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
The $350 million facility, which will include 238 patient rooms, was built to exceed state seismic safety requirements (Bender, San Jose Mercury News, 2/28).
Community Health Systems
Community Health Systems recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Magnolia Community Health Center in Riverside, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
The new health center -- one of two CHS clinics in Riverside -- serves uninsured and underinsured residents (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 2/23).
Kaweah Delta Medical Center, Visalia
In March, Kaweah Delta Medical Center will debut a program that uses telehealth technology to help patients and emergency department physicians at Kaweah consult with neurologists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, The Business Journal reports.
The telehealth program will target patients with stroke-like symptoms (The Business Journal, 2/29).
Saint Agnes Medical Center, Fresno
Saint Agnes Medical Center has completed work on a $16.8 million expansion of the sixth floor of its north wing and now is receiving patients in the space, The Business Journal reports.
The expansion adds an additional 28 private patient rooms and a critical care unit with 8 beds (The Business Journal, 2/28).
Shiners Hospitals for Children, Los Angeles
Shriners Hospitals for Children is preparing to launch a program that will send physicians to Tijuana, Mexico, instead of transporting Mexican children to its Los Angeles facility for treatment, U-T San Diego reports.
Shriners physicians will operate at a $3.2 million, 26,000 square-foot advanced surgery center at Hospital Infantil de las Californias. The new center is scheduled to be completed this month (Dibble, U-T San Diego, 2/29).
UC-San Diego Medical Center
UC-San Diego Medical Center made billing errors in 2008 and 2009 that resulted in $350,897 in Medicare overpayments, according to a draft report by HHS' Office of the Inspector General, U-T San Diego reports.
The report recommends that the hospital refund the overpayments and improve its billing procedures.
Kathleen Naughton, chief compliance officer for the medical center, said the hospital generally agreed with the report's findings and has repaid the money. Naughton added that the hospital is "committed to accurate billing" (Lavelle, U-T San Diego, 2/29).
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