Commission finds areas of Danville Regional that need to be improved to be accredited.
Danville Register & Bee
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
DANVILLE - Danville Regional Medical Center’s status as a fully accredited institution could change in the near future if certain improvements are not made.
Danville Regional sent out a news release Wednesday afternoon verifying that it has received a “Preliminary Denial of Accreditation” from The Joint Commission, which is the largest nonprofit health care accrediting body responsible for evaluating the quality of care at hospitals across the United States.
Commission spokeswoman Elizabeth Zhani said Wednesday that the evaluation is “not final,” adding her group is still reviewing the results of a survey it conducted Feb. 13-16.
“At this time, (Danville Regional) is still fully accredited,” she said.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) use commission accreditations as a basis for determining which hospitals qualify for Medicare or Medicaid reimbursements.
But Zhani said it is ultimately up to that federal agency to make this decision and a lack of commission accreditation does not necessarily mean a hospital will no longer receive these reimbursements.
Danville Regional CEO Art Doloresco said Wednesday that the commission surveyors found some areas the hospital needed to improve that could prevent it from being fully accredited.
“We are already working hard to make the improvements that are required,” he said in the hospital news release.
When asked to elaborate, Doloresco described the areas of improvement as a “private matter between me, the hospital and the commission.”
Read the rest of the article at http://www.registerbee.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=DRB%2FMGArticle%2FDRB_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173350219666&path=!news
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17 comments:
Well, there it all is: Doloresco's instinctive arrogance as seen in his comment that the weaknesses are none of our business. It is impossible for such fundamental arrogance to create positive change.
If Doloresco possessed any sense of duty toward this community, he would want us to know the trouble spots so we could protect ourselves and our loved ones from using those parts of the hospital.
The Joint Commission found 25 points of fault, or failure, in its investigation. It is encouraging that Doloresco says he is working on those 25 points of failure.
But it is unconscionable that he would conceal these points from the public--thus depriving us from protecting ourselves.
It is imperative that the Mayor's Commission insist that Doloresco be forthcoming. It is a matter of public safety.
--Tarheel
GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK it is time for Art to throw the towel in and say ' I fought the good fight", or at least I tried. His hiding of the weaknesses that Joint Commisssions found are typical of just about everything he has done. Mr. Art it is time to GO! There is no dignitity, bow your head and LEAVE.Do not even udder a word as we all know that you are lying if you are talking.
Sentinel Event,
This probably doesn't belong here but not sure where to post it....
THE SAGA CONTINUES:
County takes over hospital in Needles
March 14, 2007 - 6:37AM
SAN BERNARDINO - The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to take over medical care responsibilities at Colorado River Medical Center in Needles at an unknown expense to county taxpayers.
"The financial risk is an issue," said County Administrator Mark Uffer. "We could break even; we could lose half a million; we could lose $2 million."
Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, who spearheaded the project, said making sure the county doesn't lose money on the project was his second priority behind making sure that the residents of Needles don't experience an interruption of hospital services.
The hospital was being run by Lifepoint Hospitals Inc., which built a new hospital approximately 12 miles away from the Needles hospital in Arizona.
Lifepoint bought out the last five years of its lease with the Needles medical center for $1.5 million and are transferring its services to the new hospital.
That creates a problem for patients with California-based insurance who can't go to Arizona and would have to drive to Barstow Community Hospital.
"The impact to pre-hospital care would be tremendous without this facility staying open," said County Fire Chief Pat Dennan.
Dennan said that without the Needles hospital, when a person was injured, they would have to take county emergency services personnel and a fire engine 30 minutes across the state line and hope that there was a bed open for the injured person.
"We are entering uncertain territory," said Needles City Manager Richard Rowe. "There are still several hurdles."
The county will also utilize open space in the hospital for other county positions based in Needles, saving an estimated $134,000 in rent.
The Needles hospital serves about 70,000 in Califor nia, Arizona and Nevada.
Source: http://www.desertdispatch.com/onset?db=desertdispatch&id=156&template=article.html
Thanks
Steve
Of course Doloresco should pack up his overnight bag and leave. His incompetence as an administrator is now documented by the Joint Commission. His inability to deal with people is becoming legendary.
But that is a short-term antidote to the poison now affecting the hospital and the community. Doloresco is but a symptom of the sickness LifePoint has brought us.
The Mayor's Commission should consider two points as their priority:
1) As a matter of public safety, the Commission should insist that LifePoint fully inform the community about the places where it has failed. It has that minimal responsibility toward the citizens who must decide whether they can trust specific hospital services--right now.
2) Looking toward a true resolution, the Commission must put on the table the question of how to get rid of LifePoint and return our hospital to some form of its original configuration as a not-for-profit community hospital. This must involve the proceeds from the original sale, as well as combining assets with one of our excellent neighboring groups like Moses-Cone or Centra Health.
Quite properly, from a fiduciary standpoint, LifePoint is obligated to think first of profits for its owners. For the rest of us, trying to fix what's wrong with LifePoint's version of DRMC is like taking Band-aids to a train wreck.
What happened to The Colorado River Medical Center should be the final bit of information we need to unequivocally say "Lifepoint puts profits over lives". There is another situation where their need for profits put citizens at risk (Come on now 30 mins. across state lines to the nearest hospital!) for the sake of profits!
At least supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt got it right.
To the Lifepoint Chiefs:
Obviously we have a critical situation here! The community and hospital staff are in a near state of panic. We don't have a chance in hell to make any kind of positive recovery with Arthur in control. His twisted spins of "truth" have devastated those of us who have tried to "wait it out". Doloresco's lack of integrity has created a great deal of drama and suspicion so please, we respectfully ask that you remove him from his current position and replace him with someone who really cares about what happens to our hospital!
Thank God for this blog so those of us who need to be honest about the current state of affairs can speak out without any fear of retaliation.
Maybe this is what caused the Needles board of supervisors to have to react so quickly.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
INLAND COUNTIES EMERGENCY MEDICAL AGENCY will be conducting a public hearing to obtain input concerning Colorado River Medical Center’s intent to relinquish its Basic Emergency Room Permit:
DATE: Friday, March 9, 2007
TIME: 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
LOCATION: CITY OF NEEDLES COUNCIL CHAMBERS
1111 Bailey Avenue
Needles, California
Those testifying will be asked to sign in at the door and limit their presentation to three minutes. Those unable to attend may submit their comments in writing no later than March 9, 2007 to:
Inland Counties Emergency Medical Agency
515 N. Arrowhead Ave.
San Bernardino, CA 92415-0060
http://www.sbcounty.gov/icema/WhatsNew/NOTICE%20OF%20PUBLIC%20HEARING%20022007.pdf
Need more ebvidence? Seems Lifepoint convinced the city council in Needles to change the hospital from general acute care to critical access...thereby getting more $ from medicare. Yet LifePoint still ended up walking away leaving the community trying to keep a hospital open. The pretense was they had to do this so Lifepoint would honor its remaing 7 years of lease. Read closely, even at this point Physicians were allowing their privileges tto expire and going to other hospitals and they were trying to operate an OR without an anesthesiologist.
Local
Hospital to seek critical access designation
By LEE CHOQUETTE, News West
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 4:04 PM PST
NEEDLES — LifePoint Hospitals, which operates Colorado River Medical Center, sought and received the Needles City Council's support for changing the hospital from a general acute care hospital to a critical access hospital.
The Needles City Council discussed LifePoint's request in a special meeting Nov. 22, scheduled for one hour that stretched to two as a parade of concerned residents, patients and hospital employees gave the council their input and asked questions of the city's consultant, John Wilson.
Wilson was hired by the city to advise them on hospital issues, and met several times with LifePoint representatives, along with Vice Mayor Jeff Williams, Council Member Bob Rath and city manager Richard Rowe.
The critical access program is funded by the federal government and administered by the states to keep small rural hospitals from going out of business. About 1,100 hospitals nationwide have this designation.
The urgency of the application comes from a provision due to sunset Dec. 31. Ordinarily a critical access hospital must be at least 35 miles from any other hospital. States may exempt critical access hospitals from this requirement by certifying them as 'necessary providers,' but this exemption will not be available to new applicants after Dec. 31.
Wilson recommended that the city grant LifePoint's request. He implied cooperation now might help avoid having the hospital close after the lease with LifePoint runs out in seven years.
"We have a better chance of success if we work with them," Wilson suggested. "If we take the strict legal course they will too."
Wilson said that Lifepoint had projected a $4 million loss for 2006, which would be reduced to $2 million if it succeeded in getting the critical access designation. Reimbursements from Medicare and Medi-Cal will approximately double. The designation may also qualify the hospital for certain grants.
Wilson said he had no way to validate the figures, which include the $375,000 that LifePoint pays the city each year to lease the hospital. When asked why LifePoint would continue to operate in the face of such losses, Wilson said the losses are smaller than what LifePoint would have to pay to terminate the lease.
If LifePoint did terminate the lease the city would be unlikely to find another management company to agree to a full-risk contract, Wilson added. On the other hand, the city could certainly find a management company to operate the hospital if they paid it, he said.
A former hospital administrator himself, he said the only thing he would do differently from LifePoint would be to have applied for the designation much earlier.
A change from general acute care to critical access is seen as a step down in many circles, Wilson said, but California's strict standards mean that many requirements, such as the required number of nurses on staff, will not be relaxed.
In addition, LifePoint's lease with the city means that some of the services that a critical care hospital could otherwise discontinue will still be maintained at Colorado River Medical Center, Wilson added. The lease requires eight core services, which are defined in California law: medical, nursing, surgical, anesthesia, laboratory, radiology, pharmacy and dietary.
The resolution ultimately approved by the city council, in a unanimous vote, supports LifePoint's application to the California Department of Health Services "provided that this approval does not diminish, in any manner, LifePoint's obligation under the lease and provided that LifePoint agrees in writing to vigorously pursue a rural health care clinic."
Many who spoke at the meeting were concerned that services and equipment were being moved from Colorado River Medical Center to LifePoint's new hospital in Fort Mojave, Valley View Medical Center.
"This is a cat and mouse game, with LifePoint as the cat, and us as the mouse," said resident Bob Chesney. "Needles must stop the rape of our hard-won hospital."
The equipment that was in the hospital when the lease was signed still belongs to the city, said city attorney Bob Hargreaves. When equipment that is no longer serviceable is replaced, the new equipment belongs to LifePoint, but they must account for everything, Hargreaves added.
LifePoint is bringing in outside experts to take a special inventory audit, Wilson said, as the city does not have the expertise to do so itself. LifePoint has promised to bring back any city equipment that was inadvertently taken to Valley View, Hargreaves added.
Although the hospital still has a surgical suite, there is no anesthesiology because there is no anesthesiologist, according to Donovan Anderson, a physician who works in the hospital's emergency room.
Anderson and Matthew Kidd, another doctor who works in the emergency room, both said it was difficult to convince their colleagues to come to Colorado River Medical Center. Many doctors are already stretched thin working at the hospitals across the river, and are letting their privileges in Needles expire, according to Kidd.
"We need to nurture doctors who are willing to come," said Kidd. He said the critical access designation was "the best way to maintain the hospital's economic viability until new housing is built and new business comes so that Needles can compete in recruiting doctors."
Several times Wilson said that a question would be better directed at LifePoint representatives, who were not present at the Nov. 22 meeting but are to attend the council's regular Dec. 13 meeting.
Marianne Kaplan, for example, suggested that LifePoint operate a free shuttle from Needles to Valley View Medical Center for patients who need services there. Wilson said LifePoint would have to answer that question, but many Los Angeles hospitals operate free shuttles.
"My youngest son was born in the old hospital, which is now a fine parking lot," said resident Dave Renquest. "We don't need another parking lot."
http://www.thedesertstar.com/articles/2005/12/14/news/local/news04a.txt
According to the quote in the RB, the Artful Dodger was not so eloquent. While Lifepoint owns the hospital, there is a hospital board and many know someone who sits on the board. I doubt they do not know the details.
Between the board and the city counci and mayor, someone should be able to get answers. For Pete's sake, the safety of the citizens who use DRMC is not a private matter.....truly sad choice of words Art.
Well, the “Boys at the Bank” have finally done it !! They have succeeded in taking a fully-accredited, well-staffed, high morale, community-accepted, and nationally recognized hospital and turned it into a UN-accredited, low morale, high turn-over, and DIS-respected-by-its- patrons “doc in the box”!
Now, we face the loss of doctors, nurses, insurance companies, and both Medi-Care and Medi-Caid because of the decisions by the “Boys of the Bank”. I strongly feel that they should share in this loss.
Consequently, I propose that we no longer buy a new local Ford, no longer open a new savings/checking account at a local “patriotic” national bank, and no longer buy gas or oil from a distributor who both sells gas/oil products and picks up trash from commercial accounts locally.
Instead, we need to ……………..
Boycott the Boys at the Bank !!!!!
Boycott the Boys at the Bank !!!!!
Boycott the Boys at the Bank !!!!!
Boycott the Boys at the Bank !!!!!
They did IT to us !!! It’s time to do IT to THEM !!!!!!!!!
BOYCOTT the BOYS at the BANK
"Wilson recommended that the city grant LifePoint's request. He implied cooperation now might help avoid having the hospital close after the lease with LifePoint runs out in seven years."
Copied from an above post.
Well, lets see how it worked out cooperating with LifePoint.....NOT TOO GOOD for the folks of Needles. LifePoint appears to have been just playing them to milk more money out of Medicare Medi-Cali payments while the were in the process of taking all their toys to one of their new hospitals.
The above should be firmly in our minds if we ever have an opportunity to negotiate with LifePoint. If it looks like a snake, wiggles like a snake, and has a forked tongue, odds are its a snake.
DO NOT FEEL BAD ABOUT ART NOT TELLING THE PUBLIC WHAT THE PROBLEMS WERE CAUSE HE WILL NOT TELL THE STAFF OF DRMC EITHER. WE ARE TOLD TO FIX THINGS BUT HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO FIX.
Exactly, ALLCAPS...we keep hearing the same thing. There is a list of things to fix, but apparently Art owns the list and will let us know on a need-to-know basis. We can't make things right if we don't know what to work on.
The reason Art doesn't let you know the list is because the list of things to fix is :
Art and his band of merry millionaire knifepoint idiots.
Make them an offer equal to the current market value of the hospital with the 200 million and send them packing, If they won't bargain tax them into submission.
How about a difficulty in use tax ,
Or a failure to flourish tax or even a fraud tax on the "fab five from the bank"
Art does not "own the list" per se. The things to be "fixed" have been shared with me by my manager. I am a nurse by the way. Some of these we were aware were a problem long before the inspection and continue to be. I know a number of people here at DRMC expect the managers to fix all that is wrong. That can not be as that burden is shared by all.
Okay, it's now been TWO WEEKS.
Has anyone seen anything resembling a list of items for improvement to pass Joint Commission's review????
Time's a wasting, boys.
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