Drew University Sues L.A. County Over Billing Issues
On Monday, a Los Angeles medical school filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County alleging several breaches in its contract with the school's former teaching hospital, Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center, the AP/Sacramento Bee reports.
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science alleges contract breaches including incomplete, late and "inaccurate and inflated" billings, according to the lawsuit.
The school seeks at lease $2 million in damages and a full inventory of services performed at the hospital by the university since April 1987. The suit also seeks payment from the county for those services (AP/Sacramento Bee, 1/30).
University officials in November 2006 voted to temporarily close the school's residency program while it rebuilds and finds a new affiliate teaching hospital.
The university lost its national accreditation because its affiliate hospital, then known as King-Drew, failed a federal inspection. The hospital downsized to form Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital in an effort to retain federal funding (California Healthline, 6/22/07).
However, after failing another federal inspection, the facility closed in August 2007 (California Healthline, 10/31/07).