County Questions King/Drew Outlays

Los Angeles County health officials are withholding $300,000 from the medical school affiliated with Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, saying the troubled public hospital has paid for hours that weren’t worked by the university’s physicians.

All told, health officials said Monday, the county has paid Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science nearly $1.1 million for academic and clinical services that weren’t provided.

The county has asked Drew University for a response by next week before deciding whether to recoup the remaining money.

The county pays Drew about $12 million a year to oversee the training of doctors and provide some clinical care to patients at the hospital in Willowbrook, just south of Watts.

The future of King/Drew’s continued affiliation with Drew University will be debated by the county Board of Supervisors today in a meeting that could determine the future of the public hospital.

Over the past 21 months, King/Drew has been criticized for lapses in care that led to patients’ deaths. Drew University has been faulted for poor oversight of doctor trainees. Last year, county supervisors tightened their contract with Drew after auditors were unable to account for millions of dollars.

Some supervisors are now suggesting that the county sever its relationship with Drew and either seek a different university partner or turn King/Drew into a nonacademic community hospital.

Dr. Thomas Garthwaite, director of the county Department of Health Services, said the withheld funds reflect the county’s enhanced oversight of Drew.

He has already fined Drew $21,000 for failing to turn in reports on time, as required by its contract.

Bart Williams, chairman of Drew University’s board, said Drew never expected to be paid for work that was not performed. The contract only estimated how many hours the doctors would work.

Garthwaite said he supported continuing the relationship with Drew University, but called on the school’s trustees to take additional action to restore accountability. Specifically, he said, Drew must name new leaders -- a permanent president or new medical school dean -- by August, or its contract won’t be renewed when it expires in June 2006.

Drew has been without a permanent president since January 2004, and its medical school dean’s management style has been criticized by doctors at the school.

“There needs to be some clear change in direction academically,” Garthwaite said in an interview.

Garthwaite also said the school must move quickly to fill other vacancies. At least 10 medical department heads have quit or been forced out in the last two years.

Last week, the acting chairman of anesthesia announced his resignation, saying he would return to UCLA in July.

And the chairman of pediatrics resigned under pressure last month after auditors determined he was working in his private practice in Lancaster while being paid to be at King/Drew.

Williams said the school can meet all of Garthwaite’s conditions.

“We have and continue to search for a new president for the university,” he said. “That search will continue.”

The Drew board is waiting for county supervisors to decide whether they are willing to hire a joint chief executive to manage both King/Drew and Drew University, Williams said.

At its meeting today, the Board of Supervisors is also expected to vote on whether to give an additional $1.8 million to the outside consulting firm running King/Drew.

Navigant Consulting Inc. is being paid $13.2 million for its yearlong contact, which began in November.

Kae Robertson, a Navigant director, said at a King/Drew advisory board meeting Monday that her firm has the option of quitting if supervisors don’t approve the money and other changes to its contract.

Robertson described today’s vote as “an opportunity to decide whether we stay or not.”

When Navigant was awarded its contract last fall, Robertson assured the supervisors that her firm’s bid was based on a thorough assessment.

Since then, she has said conditions at King/Drew were far worse than the firm had initially thought, and she has suggested Navigant would need more time and money to fix them.