"The fine issued today to Scripps Mercy Hospital by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is the result of an event more than a year ago at our Chula Vista campus that Scripps self-reported to the agency.
As a result of our self-reporting of this event involving a delay in medication delivery, CDPH surveyed our hospital and asked for a comprehensive plan for improvement in this area, which we supplied and CDPH approved and fully accepted. In the past year, Scripps Mercy Hospital has implemented a process to ensure delivery of urgent medications within 15 minutes and our internal tracking shows we are doing that 100 percent of the time. We also have provided extensive education to all staff and caregivers on this new process.
With more than 3.3 million patient contacts a year, Scripps is one of the largest providers of health care services in San Diego County. So it is important to note how rare this incident is when compared to the total number of patients treated at Scripps facilities. Still, we recognize the seriousness of any patient safety concern in a Scripps facility and respond quickly to address it.
It is also important to note that this is Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista's first such penalty, and was anticipated based on our work this past year with CDPH to resolve this matter.
For more than 118 years, generations of San Diegans have trusted Scripps Mercy Hospital to provide the highest level of patient care. It's a trust that we know we must continue to earn through our steadfast commitment to providing quality, leading-edge health care. As a teaching institution, we do this by actively studying an array of quality indicators and listening to our patients, physicians, employees and the community."
