3 Hospitals Re-Accredited Despite Cutbacks in Staff

Despite major layoffs of doctors and nurses last fall, three Los Angeles County hospitals apparently have been re-accredited by a Chicago-based hospital inspection agency, county health chief Mark Finucane said Thursday.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations approved three-year recertifications for County-USC Medical Center in Boyle Heights, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Finucane said.

A Joint Commission spokeswoman refused to confirm if the hospitals were re-accredited, saying commission surveyors have made only preliminary reports. Final reports will not be released for at least 30 days, she said.

Finucane nonetheless told the Board of Supervisors he was “extremely proud and surprised” the three hospitals appear to have passed the recertification survey, in which inspectors examine 500 areas, such as infection control and medical records.

County hospitals and health clinics were thrown into major turmoil last fall when county supervisors laid off more than 2,500 workers to help close a budget deficit. Finucane and other health officials had wondered if County-USC, which suffered heavy layoffs as well as major damage from the Northridge earthquake, would win re-accreditation.

County officials also eliminated nearly 300,000 patient visits per year at hospital-based outpatient clinics during the budget crunch. But the Joint Commission survey focused only on current hospital operations.

The county’s other three hospitals--Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center, High Desert and Rancho Los Amigos--were not up for re-accreditation this year.