California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of May 15, 2015
California Pacific Medical Center
Next year, California Pacific Medical Center and various foundations plan to open a new eye care and surgery center for low-income patients, the San Francisco Business Times' "Bay Area BizTalk" reports.
The partnership includes the Pacific Vision Foundation, the Lions Eye Foundation of California and Nevada, a group of San Francisco ophthalmologists and a $10 million loan from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Rauber, "Bay Area BizTalk," San Francisco Business Times, 5/13).
Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles
Cedars-Sinai Health System has cut costs and improved quality of care after implementing a set of best-practice standards and guidelines into its electronic health record system, KPCC's "KPCC News" reports.
The model -- based on the Choosing Wisely campaign that seeks to identify wasteful and potentially harmful practices -- has helped the health system cut costs by $4 million annually since 2013 (Plevin, "KPCC News," KPCC, 5/13).
Lodi Memorial Hospital Association
California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) has requested a one-week extension to decide whether to approve or reject Adventist Health's acquisition of Lodi Memorial Hospital Association, the Lodi News-Sentinel reports (Bonnett, Lodi News-Sentinel, 5/11).
Last year, Lodi Memorial Hospital Association members voted 189-14 to affiliate with Adventist Health in Roseville (California Healthline, 1/2). Harris originally was scheduled to make a decision on Monday (Lodi News-Sentinel, 5/11).
Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay a $1.5 million settlement for a medical malpractice lawsuit over an incident at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times' "L.A. Now" reports.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleged that she had been injured during a gallbladder surgery and continued to suffer after it had been completed.
In addition to the settlement, the board will take responsibility for about $94,280 that the plaintiff would have had to use to reimburse the state's Medicaid program (Merl, "L.A. Now," Los Angeles Times, 5/12).
Sutter Health
Sutter Health has partnered with drugmaker AstraZeneca to develop new treatments for patients with diabetes, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
Under the partnership, Sutter and AstraZeneca will test new ways to track patients and develop technologies to improve diagnoses and patients' quality of life (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 5/8).
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.