Taken from VVDailyPress.com on September 5, 2011
Daily Press Staff Writer: Tomoya Shimura

A state health agency has recently exonerated Prime Healthcare hospitals of allegations that they kept inaccurate or incomplete medical records of patients with a deadly blood infection that hospitals are paid a premium to treat.

The California Department of Public Health probed 23 hospitals owned by Prime after receiving complaints from the Service Employees International Union that some of Prime hospitals have the highest septicemia rates in the United States.

The health department found deficiencies in four of them, including Desert Valley Hospital.

At the Victorville hospital, inspectors found problems with record keeping of septicemia diagnoses. At the rest of the three hospitals, the investigators claimed 22 of 120 patients diagnosed with septicemia showed few symptoms of the disease.

Prime called the CDPH’s reports “erroneous” and challenged the findings, claiming that the state agency has no authority to evaluate the doctors’ diagnoses and that CDPH surveyors lacked sufficient experience and training.

An independent physician reviewed the findings and stated there was insufficient evidence to determine that Prime kept incomplete or inaccurate medical records. The CDPH amended its survey findings since then.

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Tomoya Shimura may be reached at (760) 955-5368 or TShimura@VVDailyPress.com. Follow Tomoya on Facebook at facebook.com/ShimuraTomoya.

http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/hospitals-30501-prime-health.html