STATE AUDITOR’S REPORT HIGHLIGHTS GROWING MANAGEMENT BLOAT, LACKLUSTER CHARITY CARE AND FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY PROBLEMS AT UC MEDICAL CENTERS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 30, 2014
CONTACT: Todd Stenhouse, (916) 397-1131, [email protected]
Report Shows Declining Patient Satisfaction and Frontline Staffing Levels at UCLA Medical Center
Oakland: In a report released earlier today, the California State Auditor has released its findings in a review of the finances and staffing levels at two of the University of California’s five medical centers—UCLA and UCSF.
The report uncovers several troubling trends at UC’s two most highly profitable, taxpayer subsidized public hospitals. Specifically, dramatic growth in highly compensated management staff, substandard levels of charity care, and a range of financial transparency problems. While the report does not address the rising tide of government fines and deficiency reports being levied against UC Hospitals for patient safety problems, it does show declining patient satisfaction rates and frontline staffing levels at UCLA Medical Center.
The Audit was requested by Assemblyman Adam Gray, who chairs the State Legislature’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee last summer. Read the report summary here, and the full report here.
“This report validates what many of us have been expressing for months—that while UC Hospitals have plenty of money, they are increasingly diverting patient care resources into the pockets of administrators, abandoning their obligation to care for the most vulnerable in the communities they serve, and shielding their finances from the scrutiny of the taxpaying public,” said AFSCME 3299 President Kathryn Lybarger. “At UCLA, where administrative hires are up and both patient satisfaction rates and frontline staff numbers are declining, it is clear that these misguided priorities are already having a negative impact.”
Among the items that were not explored by the State Auditor, but have been raised by AFSCME 3299 and other patient care watchdogs:
- A growing trend of government fines for patient safety failures that are being levied by the CA State Department of Public Health against UC Hospitals—From $0 between 2004 and 2006 to over $1.5 million since 2007 (Source: California Department of Public Health; http://hfcis.cdph.ca.gov/search.aspx).
- The quadrupling of average annual patient care deficiencies surveyed at UC Hospitals by the State Department of Public Health over the last decade (Between 2004 and 2007, UC Medical Centers averaged 43.25 Reported Patient Care Deficencies per year. Between 2008 and 2012, they’ve averaged 212 Patient Care deficiencies, per year. Source: California Department of Public Health; http://hfcis.cdph.ca.gov/search.aspx).
- The impact that staffing cuts and other corner cutting may have had in other recently reported problems at other UC Hospitals—including the recent death of a head injured UC San Diego patient, and a million dollar federal whistleblower settlement for patient neglect levied against UC Irvine Medical Center (http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/Aug/19/wristband-ucsd-wandering-elopement/; http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/28/local/la-me-uci-medical-20130328) .
- UC VP of Health Services Jack Stobo’s admission that UC hospitals “don’t do so well in terms of our clinical services,” citing affordability, patient outcomes, patient experience, and other issues (Source: http://www.uctv.tv/shows/UC-Center-for-Health-Quality-and-Innovation-Welcome-John-Stobo-25096).
“While this report highlights many troubling trends about UC Medical Centers, it does not address many of the other issues that we have seen borne out in the form of government fines, whistleblower lawsuits, deficiency reports, preventable tragedies, and stunning admissions from top UC Health Administrators,” Lybarger added. “It is our hope that the State Legislature’s decision to launch this audit will mark a beginning to a period of greater scrutiny of UC Medical Centers. The questions are too numerous and the stakes are simply too high for the growing numbers of UC Medical patients to allow the status quo to go unchallenged.”
