Earlier this month, a group of California hospitals made national headlines when the news broke that they'd allegedly been recruiting and admitting homeless patients and giving them questionable treatments. Now, it's come out that the state of California knew four years ago that at least one of the hospitals might be admitting patients unnecessarily, but took no action.
In 2004, after inspections, state health officials concluded that there were a number of serious problems at City of Angels Medical Center, including "questionable medical criteria for admission," poor discharge planning and a lack of attention to psychiatric issues. Reviewers included employees from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and the state Department of Health Services.
Though the officials ordered the hospital to fix the problems it discovered, it apparently never followed up to make sure that the facility complied with their demands. Nothing happened until allegations of patient dumping on the city's skid row triggered an investigation into admission practices at City of Angels and two other facilities, according to research by the Los Angeles Times.
To learn more about the investigation:
- read this Los Angeles Times article
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