Countywide : CHOC Is Reinstated by Heart Fund Agency
A state agency that provides hospitals with money to help with the care of pediatric heart patients has reinstated its approval of the cardiac program at Childrens Hospital of Orange County, a hospital official said Friday.
Citing inadequate record-keeping and diagnostic techniques, California Children Services (CCS) withdrew its approval of the program last November. The decision meant that the agency would not pay for heart surgery and diagnostic tests such as heart catheterizations for indigent patients.
The reinstatement was conditioned on CHOC administrators’ agreement to centralize patients’ records at the hospital, spokeswoman Maureen Williams said. Previously, records were kept at cardiologists’ private offices, she added.
Williams said CCS will conduct a 4-month review in July to monitor the hospital’s compliance.
The agency dropped its objections to CHOC’s diagnostic techniques without requiring any changes. Williams said CHOC convinced his group that the hospital’s procedures were sufficient.
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