King/Drew Medical Center loses national accreditation

The Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center incurred another
setback Tuesday as a national hospital accreditation agency
retracted its credentials in a move that may, among other things,
signal change for UCLA medical students hoping to train at the
hospital.

The lack of approval from the Joint Commission on Accreditation
of Healthcare Organizations will likely cause Los Angeles County
officials to limit or halt a number of services, officials say.
Some of these changes may include insurance companies refusing to
pay for patients who make use of the services at King/Drew.

“It’s a stain on the hospital,” Los Angeles
County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky told the Los Angeles Times on
Tuesday.

“We lost the accreditation because the hospital is in an
absolute mess. It’s far worse than anybody had
known.”

Among the effects UCLA medical students may see is the
refashioning of a training program at the Charles R. Drew
University of Medicine and Science, which utilizes King/Drew as its
primary facility.

While it is still too early to tell what changes to the training
program may arise as a result of the revocation of the
hospital’s credentials, students and community members are
concerned.

“I just want to emphasize that (the loss of accreditation)
is pretty new. It’s premature to know how it will affect the
program,” said Steven Rad, a first-year medical student at
the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and president of the Drew
Class of 2008.

The Drew University residency program recruits UCLA medical
students after they have finished two years of schooling at the
UCLA medical school. Drew officials oversee the residency programs
and will make any necessary changes to the program.

Some second-year UCLA students hoping to enter the program in
July say their primary concern is the community around King/Drew
and how those people will be affected.

“At the end of this all, the real concern for everyone,
the bigger picture, is not what will happen to the medical
students. It’s what’s going to happen with the health
care of the community. That’s why the hospital is there in
the first place,” Rad said.

Sonia Lohiya is a first-year medical student at the UCLA medical
center who participated in protests against the proposed closure of
the King/Drew trauma center late last year. For Lohiya, too, it is
the mission of caring for underserved communities that makes the
setbacks for King/Drew so saddening.

“For any health care organization, you need to have all
the resources, personnel and training to provide the best care, and
that’s what every person deserves. Now that you take that
away from them, what’s going to happen?” Lohiya
asked.

As Los Angeles County supervisors continue to assess the
problems plaguing King/Drew, one of the many modifications Drew
University officials may make is a change to the doctor training
programs located at the hospital.

Essentially, there are “two extremes” that may occur
if and when the deans at both the UCLA medical school and Drew
University decide to modify the program, Rad said.

The more conservative outcome entails a situation where the
problems at King/Drew are mended as students continue to train. The
other extreme involves closing part of the training program and
relocating students to other UCLA-affiliated hospitals, Rad
added.

In the immediate future, King/Drew will remain open as
administrators address the numerous failings of the hospital that
have come to light within the past year. Patient deaths due to poor
nursing and hospital mismanagement are just a few of the hurdles
hospital officials will have to get over in an attempt to regain
accreditation.

Later this month, federal authorities are also scheduled to make
a decision on whether they will continue to provide King/Drew with
Medicare and Medicaid funds. The $200 million that come from the
funds annually are a main source of revenue for the hospital.

With reports from Bruin wire services.