King/Drew Passes Key Inspection
Three days before a deadline to cut off federal funds, the troubled L.A. County hospital avoids the loss of $200 million.
By Charles Ornstein and Jack Leonard
Times Staff Writers

February 16, 2005

Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center passed a crucial inspection Tuesday, eliminating for now the threat that $200 million in federal money would be cut off.

The inspection came three days before the deadline the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had set to pull its funding from the troubled Los Angeles County-owned hospital.

The government reimburses hospitals for services provided to patients under Medicare and California's Medi-Cal program. If King/Drew had lost the money   more than half of its annual budget —  the hospital might have had to close.

The warning came after regulators found that King/Drew staff had relied too heavily on police officers to shoot aggressive mental patients with Taser stun guns instead of first trying less extreme methods to calm them.

The federal government's threat to cut off money was the third in less than a year. The prior incidents involved medication errors and inappropriate use of Tasers. Those threats were similarly lifted after the hospital demonstrated that it had corrected the problems.