HOSPITALS: Tri-City hit with $130K in late-reporting fines
Other North County hospitals incurred lesser penalties
By PAUL SISSON -
psisson@nctimes.com |
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Tri-City Medical Center faces $129,500 in fines for failing to promptly
report four “adverse events” at the hospital, including a patient death, in 2008
and early 2009, according to state records.
Such reporting problems aren’t unusual —- almost all of North County’s
hospitals have been fined at least once in the past two years for failing to
report such incidents within five days of becoming aware of them, as state law
mandates.
However, Tri-City’s fines are significantly larger because its delays in
reporting were much longer. The fines grow by $100 a day.
In two instances, it took Tri-City more than 400 days to file a report with the
California Department of Public Health, the agency that collects the data. Among
other North County hospitals, the next-longest delay was at Scripps Encinitas,
which incurred a $6,600 fine for reporting an incident 66 days late.