King/Drew Passes Key Inspection

Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center passed a crucial inspection Tuesday, eliminating for now the threat that $200 million in federal money would be cut off.

The inspection came three days before the deadline the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had set to pull its funding from the troubled Los Angeles County-owned hospital.

The government reimburses hospitals for services provided to patients under Medicare and California’s Medi-Cal program. If King/Drew had lost the money -- more than half of its annual budget -- the hospital might have had to close.

The warning came after regulators found that King/Drew staff had relied too heavily on police officers to shoot aggressive mental patients with Taser stun guns instead of first trying less extreme methods to calm them.

The federal government’s threat to cut off money was the third in less than a year. The prior incidents involved medication errors and inappropriate use of Tasers. Those threats were similarly lifted after the hospital demonstrated that it had corrected the problems.

During the latest inspection, which began about 5 a.m. Tuesday, regulators conducted drills and found that King/Drew staff acted properly.

“It wasn’t a close call; they made it easy,” said Jeff Flick, regional administrator of the Medicare agency. “They were obviously ready. They were obviously prepared.”

County officials had predicted that King/Drew, which failed inspections on the issue in December, would pass this time because employees had received significant retraining.

“It’s another step in fixing King/Drew,” said Dr. Thomas Garthwaite, director of the county Department of Health Services.

Navigant Consulting, the outside firm hired to run day-to-day operations at King/Drew, plans a cake and ice cream celebration at the hospital today to thank the staff for passing the inspection.

“There’s been a lot of negative information out there,” said Elliot Cohen, a Navigant representative serving as the hospital’s interim chief executive. “With an example like today’s success, that will help turn the tide.”

Los Angeles County supervisors were similarly hopeful.

Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, whose district includes King/Drew, said she visited the hospital Monday to inspect the progress that staff in the psychiatric unit had made in preparing for the inspectors’ visit.

“I think it’s going to make a difference in the morale of the staff,” she said. “People are coming together and working together to solve problems.”

The news, though welcome, should not cause any complacency about fixing the other problems at the hospital, located in Willowbrook, near Watts, said county Supervisor Don Knabe.

“We have to continue to be very aggressive about trying to fix the problems out there,” Knabe said, adding that the hospital’s difficulties with federal regulators probably would continue.

King/Drew still faces myriad problems. Earlier this month, it lost its national accreditation because of patient-care lapses found during inspections last year. And federal inspectors have identified problems in nursing, medication management and quality improvement that still must be fixed.

“It’s very important that people not let up,” Flick said. “I believe that hospital can turn a corner and be a good, solid hospital. It’s going to take an awful lot of work.”

Navigant, which is being paid $13.2 million to run King/Drew, has made more than 1,000 recommendations to stabilize the medical center.

One of Navigant’s primary recommendations is to immediately transfer oversight of King/Drew from the county health department to a “more independent and knowledgeable board.”

The panel -- to be made up of experts in finance, business and hospital management -- would report directly to the supervisors, bypassing the health department.

County supervisors are expected to create that board this month.

At its weekly meeting Tuesday, the board rejected a motion by Supervisor Mike Antonovich that it meet monthly to focus on healthcare issues. Antonovich offered the proposal as an alternative to creating a health authority to oversee all of the county’s hospitals -- a suggestion that county administrators are examining.

“The board of supervisors is the governing authority, and we cannot delegate that authority, and if we continue to stick our head in the sand, we’re going to have future Martin Luther King problems,” he said.

“We have a responsibility, and if we fail, we can only blame ourselves,” Antonovich added.