Oakland Medical Center

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Oakland Medical Center
Geography
Location 280 West MacArthur Boulevard, Oakland, California, United States
Organization
Care system Non-profit HMO
History
Founded 1950
Links
Lists Hospitals in California

Oakland Medical Center also known as Kaiser Oakland was the first Kaiser Permanente hospital, and opened in 1950.[1] It was the first modern Health maintenance organization (HMO) hospital after the experiment of using an HMO model was found to be successful among the 90,000 Richmond Kaiser Shipyards workers in the Richmond, California, Field Hospital.[2] It is a large modern hospital with multiple towers located in the city's North Oakland quarter.

Overview

Reconstruction

To meet state senate bill 1953 seismic safety standards the hospital is being replaced piecemeal.[3][4] A new parking garage opened in 2011.[4] This will be followed by a new twelve-story, 349-bed full service hospital.[4] It will also feature twelve inpatient operating rooms, eight delivery rooms, and an emergency department.[4] Those that are hospitalized will be able to enjoy single occupancy rooms only.[4] It will be complemented with a four story medical office building hosting ninety-nine provider offices.[4] This medical facility will have six outpatient operating rooms and seven outpatient procedure rooms.[4] These addition buildings will open in 2014.[4]

University partnerships

The Oakland Medical Center maintains a relationship with the Tang Center, the UC Berkeley student clinic for medical needs outside the scope of the Tang Center's episodic medicine capabilities.[5] Furthermore Mills College has a similar relationship with Kaiser Oakland.[6] The Mills student health center hosts a Kaiser doctor and nurse.[6] All Mills students are able to access all of Oakland Medical Center's services in addition to any other Kaiser campus.[6]

Transportation

The hospital has its own weekday shuttle service (the Kaiser Shuttle) that connects several hospital facilities with the nearby MacArthur BART station, in addition to being directly served by several AC Transit bus lines.[7][8]

Events

The hospital hosts a farmers market every Friday morning.[1]

Controversies

1997 understaffing violations

In 1997 when deaths at the neighboring Kaiser Richmond led to the closure of its ER for ambulance patients, Oakland Medical Center had to bear the brunt of the extra patients.[9] In fact, the entire health organization could have lost millions in funding if it did not immediately remediate the chronic understaffing of critical care positions at this hospital.[10]

2011 home hospice care violations

In 2011 the hospital was probed in a "scathing" report that described the hospital as having systemic deficiencies that put its patrons in "immediate jeopardy" in its home health division for terminally ill patients.[11] Kaiser was also accused of scapegoating nurses for the problems as a diversion of responsibility.[11] It opened this division in 1989 and has received complaints for years, although these are the first serious violations.[11] The nurses say the problems stem from budget cuts, understaffing, and increased regulations.[11] The nurses have described the patient record keeping as "deplorable".[12]

Moreover due to the conditions the Health Care Financing Administration has threatened to cut Kaiser's 700,000 dollar Medicare disbursement.[12] The HCFA cited patient care violations such as misdiagnoses and medication delays.[12] Kaiser responded with a 90-day plan to fix the issues.[12] The hospital is required to provide 24-hour care but this service especially the nurse advice line has been described as "shoddy".[12] Nurses report that although Kaiser acts to fix problems quickly, it chooses temporary fixes over long term solutions to bigger problems in a routine fashion.[12] The San Francisco Chronicle reported that once investigators leave "it all goes down the tubes again" and that management changes the charting system monthly causing distress for the employees.[12] It has also been reported that staff have been banned from charting anything that could arouse the suspicions of inspectors such as medical record errors and that some workers had been written up for doing so.[12] Kaiser's spokesperson reported that morale is low and the medical facility is undergoing "tough" and "turbulent" times.[12]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 About Oakland Medical Center, KP.org, 2012, access date 24-03-2012
  2. ↑ Chordas, Lori (Jan 1, 2005). "A new packaged deal: Kaiser Permanente first applied the HMO concept on a wide-scale basis.". Best's Review - Copyright A.M. Best Company, Inc. Retrieved April 13, 2012. 
  3. ↑ New Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center Tops Out, ENR California, 14-07-2011, access date 23-03-2012
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Coming soon: A state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly facility…, KP.org, 2012, access date 23-03-2012
  5. ↑ Tang Center/Oakland Kaiser, KP.org, 2012, access date 23-03-2012
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Kaiser Permanente at Mills College, KP.org, 2012, access date 23-03-2012
  7. ↑ Public Transportation to and from Oakland Medical Center
  8. ↑ AC Transit system map, ACtransit.org, 2012, access date 24-03-2012
  9. ↑ Kaiser Richmond Stops Admitting New Patients, Elaine Herscher, San Francisco Chronicle, 18-04-1997, access date 23-03-2012
  10. ↑ Inspectors criticize care at Kaiser, Elaine Herscher, San Francisco Chronicle, 04-06-1997, access date 23-03-2012
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Grievances against Kaiser, Janet Wells, San Francisco Chronicle, 22-05-2011, access date 24-03-2012
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 Kaiser Hospice Under Threat Of Losing Medicare Funding, Janet Wells, San Francisco Chronicle, 10-01-2012, access date 23-03-2012

Further reading

External links

Coordinates: 37°49′30″N 122°15′25″W / 37.825°N 122.257°W / 37.825; -122.257

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