STATEMENT: AFSCME 3299 RESPONDS TO NEW GOVERNMENT FINES LEVIED AGAINST UC HOSPITALS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 15, 2013
CONTACT: Todd Stenhouse, [email protected],
(916) 397-1131
UCLA and UC Davis Medical Centers Fined $50K Each for Patient Safety Violations
Oakland: This morning, the California Department of Public Health levied $50,000 fines against two University of California Hospitals—UC Davis Medical Center and UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center—following investigations that found the facilities’ “noncompliance with licensing requirements caused, or was likely to cause, serious injury or death to patients.”
Read More Here: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Calif-Health-Dept-Fines-Hospitals-Over-Safety-Concerns-219775251.html
These findings follow eleven similar findings and fines that have been levied against UC Irvine and UCSF Medical Centers since 2008, and a leading Hospital buyers group giving UCLA Medical Center substandard patient safety ratings in each of the last two years. Investigations by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found eighteen violations at the UC’s other Medical Center—in San Diego–in 2012, and the hospital is facing new questions this year in the wake of a recent tragedy involving the death of a head-injured patient.
In response to today’s developments, Kathryn Lybarger, the President of AFSCME 3299—which represents more than 15,000 UC Hospital Employees—issued the following statement:
“These penalties highlight the concerns that our membership has been raising for years—that mismanagement and chronic understaffing has made UC Hospitals increasingly dangerous places for the communities they serve. The fact is that instead of investing in basic safeguards for patients, UC Hospital Executives are cutting corners on care in order line their own pockets. That’s not how you build a world class health delivery system—it’s how you degrade one.”
