JCAHO Overturns Findings Regarding Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near Torrance will maintain full accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations after JCAHO overturned some earlier findings, group officials told Harbor-UCLA administrators Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports (Ornstein, Los Angeles Times, 11/13).
JCAHO reviewers on Oct. 18 began to examine patient charts and other aspects of care at Harbor-UCLA, County-USC Medical Center in Boyle Heights, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey. JCAHO President Dennis O'Leary said inspections had revealed enough lapses in care at Harbor-UCLA to consider downgrading the facility's accreditation status (California Healthline, 11/2).
JCAHO had proposed lowering Harbor-UCLA's accreditation status to "conditional." Harbor-UCLA officials said that JCAHO investigators' findings did not justify the group's conclusions and challenged the findings.
To satisfy JCAHO, Harbor-UCLA must address problems related to medical record-keeping, pain assessment, medication orders, crowding in the psychiatric unit and patient evaluation prior to sedation or anesthesia, the Times reports (Los Angeles Times, 11/13).