transplant program news from FierceHealthcare
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U of Pittsburgh tries ED donor organ program
The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's hospital plans to kick off a unique program which would attempt to do better at obtaining donor organs from patients who can't be revived. Under the... Read more...
Surgeon under scrutiny after organ donor death
A Kaiser transplant surgeon is under investigation due to allegations that he purposely hastened a patient's death in order to harvest his organs for transplants. San Luis Obispo police and the Medical Board of California are examining whether Dr. Hootan Roozrokh gave high doses of a strong painkiller to Ruben Navarro, the patient. Another surgeon--Dr. Arturo Martinez--is also under investigation.
Navarro was in a long-term care facility when he was found unresponsive and taken to …
... Read more...Despite big troubles, Kaiser income jumps 30%
Despite some high-profile black eyes in a few areas of its operations, Kaiser Permanente has had one heck of a year. The organization just reported that its nonprofit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Kaiser Foundation Hospital and subsidiaries saw a 10 percent jump in revenue and a 30 percent rise in net income. This is good news for Kaiser, certainly, but it should also be noted that Kaiser's operating margin has fallen almost one-half over the last couple of years, from 5.3 percent in …
... Read more...DC transplant centers face federal scrutiny
About three dozen transplant centers, including three in the DC area, are under review by the federal government because they've done too few operations in recent years, according to an article in today's Washington Post. Hospitals gain prestige from having a transplant program in place, and multiple organ transplant programs even more so. But the volume of procedures performed at three area …
... Read more...Kaiser avoids Medicare funding loss
It looks like federal regulators have withdrawn their threat to cut off Medicare funding for kidney treatments at Kaiser Permanente's San Francisco hospital. In June, a government inspection of the HMO's Northern California transplant program turned up serious deficiencies in the way the provider managed the program. The inspection was accompanied by a warning that the hospital could lose …
... Read more...Transplant programs could lose Medi-Cal funds
California's transplant program problems continue: Four California transplant programs may lose their Medi-Cal funding because they do not meet the state's minimum standards. This comes after three hospitals have already been ordered to shutter their programs during the last year. The hospitals in trouble include programs at the USC University Hospital in Los Angeles and the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and heart programs at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and …
... Read more...Calif. lawmakers want more transplant oversight
In the wake of three transplant center closures--St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, UCI Medical Center in Orange, and Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco--California legislatures are hoping to pass reforms that will provide better oversight for the state's transplant program. Lawmakers were disturbed by the fact that there was no indication of a problem at Kaiser until the Los …
... Read more...Regulators to investigate Kaiser oversight
The never-ending story continues: Along with yesterday's announcement that Kaiser faces a $2 million fine for its kidney transplant debacle, California HMO regulators also revealed that they are investigating whether Kaiser's north California operation regularly mishandles patient complaints. They're concerned that since the HMO overlooked such massive problems with the transplant program, their oversight may be lacking in other areas as …
... Read more...Kaiser transplant exec sues for wrongful termination
The former administrator of Kaiser Permanente's troubled Northern California kidney-transplant unit, David Merlin, has filed a $5 million wrongful termination lawsuit. Merlin alleges he was terminated after two months on the job for raising concerns about the transplant program. Kaiser had brought kidney transplant services in-house in late 2004, and Merlin started his job in December 2005. The suit states that he "discovered that the program was so poorly organized and unprofessionally …
... Read more...SPOTLIGHT: Regional heart transplant program struggles
Following on the heels of last week's report on widespread organ transplant program problems, Pennsylvania's Allegheny General Hospital announced that it's struggling to perform enough heart transplant surgeries to remain compliant with federal requirements. The hospital stressed that it does, however, meet standards for patient survival. Article
