State Disclosure Reports
- Healthcare-Associated Infections in California Hospitals Annual Report
Source: CA Department of Public Health (Wednesday February 10, 2016)
- Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI) in California Hospitals, 2011
- California Hospital Infection Reports
Consumers Union Documents
- Consumers Union Petitions California to Protect Patients From Hospital Infections
A new analysis by Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization division of Consumer Reports, found that California is failing to hold hospitals accountable for improving care when they report high patient infection rates.
- CDPH data indicating California acute care hospitals without state licensure inspections for the more than five-year period between January 1, 2011 and June 18, 2016.
CDPH data indicating California acute care hospitals without state licensure inspections for the more than five-year period between January 1, 2011 and June 18, 2016.
- Consumers Union Safe Patient Project Analysis CDPH Data 2013 – 2015 includes all hospitals with significantly high infection rates in each infection category, arranged by county
Consumers Union Safe Patient Project Analysis CDPH Data 2013 – 2015 includes all hospitals with significantly high infection rates in each infection category, arranged by county
- Administrative Petition from Consumers Union Safe Patient Project and Activist Network Calling on the California Department of Public Health to Require Hospitals to Take Actions to Reduce Hospital-Associated Infections through More Rigorous Oversight.
Administrative Petition from Consumers Union Safe Patient Project and Activist Network Calling on the California Department of Public Health to Require Hospitals to Take Actions to Reduce Hospital-Associated Infections through More Rigorous Oversight.
- Medical Board of CA’s denial of Consumers Union petition to require doctors to inform their patients of their probationary status
Notice of MBC Decision on Petition by Consumers Union 12-20-15
- Media Coverage of CU’s Petition to require CA doctors disclose if they are on probation
The petition requiring doctors notify patients when they are on probation garnered extensive media throughout California.
- CA Medical Board Petition: Require that Physicians on Probation Inform their Patients of the Physicians’ Probation
Petition to the California Medical Board requesting doctors on probation notify patients of their status.
- CA Doctors on Probation as of 9-29-15
- Response to Consumer Reports’ questions from Fremont-Rideout Health Group
The Low-Down Dozen: Hospital responses to CR (Marysville, CA)
- Sign Docs on Probation Petition
Click the link to sign our petition requesting the CA medical board require doctors notify their patients if they are on probation.
Consumers Union News Releases
- California Medical Board Takes Action on Consumers Union’s Doctors on Probation Petition
Board decides not to require all doctors on probation to notify patients; passes motion to develop plan for ensuring public is better informed.
- Consumers Union Petitions California Medical Board to Require Doctors on Probation to Notify Their Patients
Nearly 500 California Doctors Are on Probation But Patients Are Kept in the Dark
- California Medical Board reforms needed
Monday, March 11, 2013 Consumers Union Urges California to Adopt Medical Board Reforms to Improve Oversight of Centers and Problem Physicians State Lawmakers Begin Sunset Review of the Medical Board of California SACRAMENTO, CA – Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, urged state lawmakers today to implement a number of Continue Reading
- California Issues Report Detailing Hospital Infection Rates For 2011
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued a number of reports today updating hospital infection rates for hospitals throughout the state during 2011. All California hospitals are required to publicly report patient infection data as a result of a 2008 state law that aims to encourage hospitals to improve efforts to prevent infections.
- California Releases New Report on Hospital Infection Rates
SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued its annual report today detailing patient infection rates at hospitals across the state. The report publishes the rates for a wide variety of infections at California hospitals and helps to establish California as a leader among states for disclosing such patient safety data, according to Consumers Union’s Safe Patient Project.
- Patient Safety Activists To Rally Outside San Francisco Court House
California Hospital Association’s Suit Seeks to Undermine Effort to Make Surgical Infection Data Available to the Public.
- California Issues Reports on Hospital-Acquired Infections
The reports provide a first glimpse at Hospital Infection Rates. Consumers Union press release recommending the state work harder to ensure the data is accurate and provided in a format consumers can easily view and understand.
- California’s Enforcement of Patient Safety Laws Still Lagging
The California Department of Public Health has been slow to implement a number of key provisions of medical error public reporting.
- Report Finds That Only Half of California Hospital Workers Got Flu Vaccine
Report Finds That Only Half of California Hospital Workers Got Flu Vaccine
- Consumers Union Finds Slow Progress on Patient Safety in California
California Department of Public Health Has Failed to Carry Out Key Requirements of Recent Patient Safety Laws
Blog Posts
- Medical Board of California: Every Patient Must Know if Their Doctor is on Probation to Make an Informed Decision
Suzan Shinazy, retired RN and Patient Safety Advocate with Consumers Union’s California Safe Patient Project explains how many consumers cannot access medical board information online, and why the California medical board should require doctors to provide their probation status to patients at the place of business.
- Docs on Probation: Over 5,100 Californians’ signatures presented to Medical Board of California
Consumers Union’s Safe Patient Project Director, Lisa McGiffert, presented over 5,100 Californians’ signatures to the Medical Board of California.
- A Tale of Two State Agencies: A Story of a Doctor on Probation
Docs on Probation guest post by Michele Monserratt-Ramos, an activist with Consumers Union California Safe Patient Project.
- Safe Patient Activist Calls Attention to #DocsOnProbation Campaign in New Op-Ed
Marian Hollingsworth, an invaluable member of our California Safe Patient Network and active with our Docs on Probation campaign, is broadcasting our ongoing fight for patient safety in a new op-ed published by the Sacramento Bee.
- Real Stories: What One Medical Error Did To My Daughter
Read how one medical error changed a young woman’s life forever.
- “Docs on Probation” Guest Post: We Need Transparency for Doctors
If your doctor was on probation for sexual misconduct with a patient, would you want to know? What about offenses related to drug or alcohol addiction, or gross negligence? Unfortunately, in the state of California, that information is not easy to come by.
- Great start for California “Docs on Probation” campaign!
In less than a week since we launched our California online petition to require doctors on probation to inform their patients, we have received 4,700 signatures and our campaign was featured on San Diego’s KGTV news!
- Our New California “Docs on Probation” campaign fights for patients’ right to know
You have a right to choose whether you want to see a doctor who is on probation, and that’s why we are announcing a campaign aimed at getting the Medical Board of California to require that doctors tell their patients when they are on probation.
- California Activists Take a Deep Dive on Patient Safety
Consumers Union Safe Patient Project staff met with a terrific group of California activists in Los Angeles this month to share successes and brainstorm plans for future collaboration. Here are five things that these extraordinary individuals have accomplished.
- The Empowered Patient Coalition Launches New Website To Help You Navigate the Health Care System
Learn more at EngagedPatients.org
News Articles
- Six local hospitals fined for preventable infections (San Diego)
Source: The San Diego Union Tribune (Saturday December 26, 2015)
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services penalizes under-performing hospitals. In the case of the acquired-conditions program that includes infections, it docks Medicare reimbursements by 1 percent for hospitals whose rankings are in the worst 25 percent nationally.
- Advocates Debate Doctor Probation Notices in California
Source: Bloomberg (Monday December 7, 2015)
“There is no greater violation of that trust than when a patient is harmed by a doctor who the patient didn’t know was on probation,” McGiffert said.
- Deadly and hidden mistakes: Hospital error reports often elude the public
Source: Orange County Register (Tuesday December 1, 2015)
“Inspectors don’t send out a news release and say, ‘We just inspected this hospital and this is what we found.’ In a perfect world, that would happen. They work for us. We depend on them,” Consumers Union’s McGiffert said.
- Media Coverage of CU’s Petition to require CA doctors disclose if they are on probation
Source: Consumers Union (Friday October 30, 2015)
Links to articles covering the issue of doctors on probation and whether they should tell patients.
- Your doctor’s on probation: Should you be told?
Source: Sacramento Bee (Monday October 19, 2015)
Nearly 500 California doctors are on probation for varied offenses, including substance abuse, medical negligence or sexual misconduct. Consumers Union wants those doctors to inform patients in writing, by phone and on posted notices.
- Group Pressures Medical Board of Calif. on Probation Transparency
Source: California Healthline (Monday October 19, 2015)
Consumers Union has filed an administrative petition calling on the Medical Board of California to require physicians on probation to notify patients of their status, the Sacramento Business Journal reports. A public hearing on the issue is expected for Oct. 30, 2015
- Watchdog Wants California Patients To Know If Their Doctor Is On Probation
Source: CBS Scramento (Friday October 16, 2015)
“Hundreds of California physicians are on disciplinary probation for misconduct, and almost two dozen are right here in the Sacramento area.”
- Statistic on safety of medical scopes ‘inaccurate, outdated,’ researchers say
Source: LA Times (Tuesday August 4, 2015)
“For decades, doctors reassured patients about the safety of medical scopes with a single statistic. But the statistic is 22 years old. And even then it was wrong.”
- A veil of secrecy shields hospitals where outbreaks occur
Source: LA Times (Saturday April 18, 2015)
“L.A. County health officials investigate and confirm an infection outbreak inside one of the county’s hospitals once or twice a month. The public rarely finds out which hospital is involved, how many patients were stricken or whether any died.”
- CA Medical Board Places Controversial Drug “Guru” Dr. Paul Daniel Corona on Probation Again
Source: OC Weekly (Monday August 3, 2015)
” Jodi Barber told a San Diego news program that she never would have taken her son to Corona if she knew he was on probation.”
Research and Reports
- Ambulatory Surgery Centers: Big Business, Little Data
Source: California Healthcare Foundation (Thursday June 13, 2013)
California HealthCare Foundation Report: A growing number of Californians are being sent to ambulatory surgery centers for a wide variety of procedures, yet little is known about the care they deliver because reporting is not required.
- California Medical Board videos
Source: YouTube (Wednesday December 12, 2012)
CA medical board meetings on YouTube.
- RECALL: Methylprednisolone Acetate Injections Related to Multistate Meningitis Outbreak
Source: California Department of Public Health (Monday October 15, 2012)
CDPH received a list of the recalled methylprednisolone acetate lots shipped to California facilities on September 28, 2012, and immediately notified the three local health jurisdictions where the lots had been received, including the names of the four facilities in those jurisdictions that may have administered the recalled medication. The facilities are in the process of notifying affected patients under the oversight of local health departments. No related cases of meningitis have been identified to date in California. Nationally, the illness has only been associated with one of the three lots that were initially recalled, and all of the California facilities that were identified as recipients have already been notified.
- California Joint Replacement Registry
Source: California Joint Replacement Registry (Tuesday August 7, 2012)
The California Joint Replacement Registry (CJRR) is an effort by the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF), Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH), and the California Orthopaedic Association (COA) to collect and share information about hip and knee replacement surgeries performed in the state.
- Medical Board of California Complaint Brochure
Source: Medical Board of California (Friday June 1, 2012)
“How Complaints are Handled” brochure by the California medical board
- Influenza Vaccination Among Health Care Personnel In California General Acute Care Hospitals For The 2010-11 Respiratory SeasonCalifornia Department of Public Health: 60.4% of California healthcare workers got vaccinated during the 2010-2011 flu season.
- Consumers’ Priorities for Hospital Quality Improvement and Implications for Public ReportingReport by the Center for Healthcare Decisions describes consumer perceptions of health care quality and provides new insights for those involved in public reporting.
- California HealthCare Foundation: Hospital-Acquired InfectionsCalifornia HealthCare Foundation articles on hospital-acquired infections.
- CA Medical Board: Board and Committee MeetingsLink to find out about the CA medical board meetings, agendas, and webcasts of past quarterly meetings.
- CDPH ISSUES ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES TO 12 HOSPITALS“The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced today that 12 California hospitals have been assessed 14 administrative penalties after a determination that the facilities’ noncompliance with licensing requirements has caused, or was likely to cause, serious injury or death to patients.”