California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of October 17, 2014

Alameda Health System, Oakland

On Oct. 20, Alameda Health System officials are expected to ask the Alameda County government to restructure and delay payments on the health system's long-term debt to the county, the Contra Costa Times reports.

The health system's board of trustees said that issues related to the implementation of a new, $77 million electronic health record system, delayed federal reimbursements and its recent acquisition of hospitals in Alameda and San Leandro have exacerbated the provider's financial problems (O'Brien/Sundaram, Contra Costa Times, 10/12).

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles

On Oct. 14, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center announced it has been certified by the American Society of Hypertension, according to a Cedars-Sinai release.

According to the press release, Cedars-Sinai is now the only designated comprehensive hypertension center in California, and one of about 12 in the U.S. (Cedars-Sinai release, 10/14).

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach

On Tuesday, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian announced it has created a partnership with Newport Bay Surgery Center by investing in the facility with Sovereign Healthcare, a management company in Orange County, according to a Hoag release.

According to the release, Progressive Surgical Solutions, which has operated the surgery center's day-to-day management, will continue doing so for the near term. However, Sovereign Healthcare will start providing strategic advice to the surgical center immediately and eventually will take over the day-to-day management (Hoag release, 10/14).

Mission Hospital, Mission Viejo

On Oct. 8, the Joint Commission issued a preliminary decision to deny Mission Hospital accreditation after four patients developed surgical site infections, the Orange County Register reports. In its decision, the commission cited issues such as high temperatures and humidity in some of the hospital's rooms.

After the preliminary decision, Mission Hospital officials put all elective surgeries on hold and closed 14 operating rooms in its Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach locations. Mission Hospital has 23 days to bring the centers into compliance with federal regulations. If the hospital fails to do so, it risks losing its Medicare and Medicaid funding, according to the Register (Chandler, Orange County Register, 10/15).

UC-Davis Health System

UC-Davis Health System has sent notices to 1,326 patients after a physician's email account was hacked, compromising the security of their protected health information, Clinical Innovation & Technology reports.

UC-Davis discovered the breach on Sept. 26 (Walsh, Clinical Innovation & Technology, 10/14). According to Healthcare IT News, the breach occurred on Sept. 25.

In a statement, UC-Davis Health System Privacy Program Director Shara Merritt Reed said that the hospital's IT staff is reviewing the hack but has not yet determined "the exact root cause of the incident" (McCann, Healthcare IT News, 10/14).

VA San Diego Healthcare System

Last week, registered nurses at the Department of Veterans Affairs' San Diego Healthcare System voted to unionize under National Nurses United, U-T San Diego reports.

The nurses approved the move to unionize by a 349-97 vote held on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9. The union will represent all registered nurses who work at the system. According to U-T San Diego, the move marks the first time that the facility's 700 registered nurses have unionized (Horn, U-T San Diego, 10/10).