In Brief: Saint John\'s CEO Ousted; Prime Fined For Patient Breach
Saint John’s Health CEO Ousted
Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica abruptly ousted its chief executive officer and several of its board members in a shakeup last week.
Lou Lazatin was escorted from the facility on Nov. 29, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Lazatin, one of the few women CEOs of a hospital of Saint John's size in California, had helmed the 266-bed institution since 2005. According to data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, Saint John's had lost more than $34 million between 2010 and last year, while revenue has been on a downward slide.
Saint John's is owned by the Denver-based Sister of Charity of Leavenworth Health System. In addition to Lazatin's departure, Eleanor Ramirez, the hospital's chief operating officer, was also let go, along with 15 of the 17-member hospital board of trustees.
Michael Wall, former chief executive officer of Northride Hospital Medical Center in the San Fernando Valley, was named acting CEO.
Prime Healthcare Fined $95,000 For Breach
Ontario-based hospital operator Prime Healthcare was fined $95,000 by The California Department of Public Health for a breach of patient confidentiality.
The breach occurred when Prime shared information on Darlene Courtois, a patient treated at Shasta Regional Medical Center with the Los Angeles Times earlier this year, as well as with unauthorized hospital employees.
Prime had released the data to the newspaper in response to a story published by the investigative website California Watch that included assertions by Courtois about the care she had received.
Prime said it would appeal the penalty, a process that would include a hearing in front of an administrative law judge and could potentially take years to complete.
Kaiser Says TDAP Vaccine Okay For Older Population
A study performed Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente has concluded that vaccinating adults with the relatively new vaccine to fight whooping cough was as effective as vaccinating them with an older vaccine.
According to a study of 120,000 electronic health records by Kaiser, the administration of the tetanus-diphtheria-acellular-pertussis
accine (Tdap) had no difference in effectiveness compared to the tetanus and diphtheria (Td) vaccine. The latter had been favored for older adults due to concerns about injection site reactions.
“Recent outbreaks of whooping cough and infant deaths are a reminder of how serious these infections areand that pertussis immunization is important, particularly since one of the most common sources of pertussis in infants is their relatives, including their grandparents,” said Hung Fu Tseng of Kaiser Permanente Southern California's Department of Research & Evaluation. “These findings should instill additional confidence for clinicians serving older adult populations in recommending the Tdap vaccine as a safe way to reduce the risk of pertussis infections.”
The study was published in the most recent issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
