Barry Arbuckle, president and CEO of MemorialCare, touts cost-cutting measures his Fountain Valley healthcare organization has taken up across its network of hospitals and outpatient centers on our front page; it’s one of many health and hospital-related stories you’ll find in this week’s print edition.
Don’t confuse efficiencies with declines in service, or safety. “Patient safety and quality of care are always top of mind and top of heart,” Arbuckle said.
Others concur: last week the Patient Safety Movement Foundation presented MemorialCare with its highest honor, the 5-Star Hospital Award, “in recognition of MemorialCare’s steadfast commitment to patient safety and quality of care.”
It’s one of only six health systems in the U.S. to receive the award. Two other hospitals to get the designation are also local: UCI Health, which runs Orange’s UCI Medical Center, No. 1 on this week’s hospital list, and CHOC Children’s in Orange, No. 5 on the list (see list, page 30).
MemorialCare, which counts two entries on this week’s hospital list, “has shown an incredible commitment to eliminating the leading causes of preventable patient deaths,” said PSMF founder and chairman Joe Kiani, who also moonlights as CEO of Irvine’s Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI), the device maker whose market cap is approaching $10 billion.
Kiani founded PSMF in 2012, the organization’s lofty goal was reaching zero preventable deaths in hospitals by this year.
He’s turning over the chairmanship of the group to Baylor University Medical Center’s Dr. Michael Ramsay.
“While our goal of zero turned out to be unattainable by 2020, I believe ZERO is attainable,” Kiani said this month, in his last letter to the group as chairman. “Just look at the hospitals that have achieved it, like my hometown’s Children’s Hospital of Orange County.”
Creating experiential-type wellness centers are one way that Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian CEO Robert Braithwaite is looking to draw patients, and athlete star power is another. Both came into play this month with the unveiling of the new Hoag Health Center Foothill Ranch center, which features food, retail and fitness facilities alongside more traditional primary care and specialty care offerings.
Attendees at the grand opening event included Kaitlin Sandeno, Olympic gold medalist swimmer and OC native, as well as Justin Jones and Michael Badgley of the L.A. Chargers, one of several area teams Hoag sponsors.
More sports stars will be on display next month at the Hoag Classic; the golf tournament runs March 4-8 at the Newport Beach Country Club.
Paul Musco previously was a member of the Newport Beach Country Club for 40+ years, despite stating he’s not much of a golfer—opera’s his big hobby, and you’ll likely see him at the Feb. 25 performance of LA Opera’s Roberto Deveraux, at Chapman’s Musco Center (see page 58).
How he’ll get there is another matter; the Insider hears Musco’s standout white Rolls-Royce will soon be auctioned off for charity, as part of next month’s “Let’s Be Frank About Cancer” fundraising gala for City of Hope, where Masimo’s Kiani will be one of those honored.
