Becker's Hospital Review

96 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Scripps Mercy Hospital accused of discharging patients without a plan By Cailey Gleeson T he San Diego City Attorney is preparing possible legal action against San Diego-based Scripps Mercy Hospital for allegedly discharging patients without a plan nearly a year aer filing action against Scripps Health, CBS8 reported July 19. e City Attorney's Office filed a civil enforcement action against Scripps Health Aug. 30, 2021, aer hospital staff discharged a 68-year- old man with severe schizophrenia without any assistance. e office did not respond to CBS8's request for comment. Amie Zamudio, a homeless advocate, told CBS8 she has recently spoken to discharged patients from the hospital with "nowhere to go, nothing to eat and unable to manage their medications." "When we say they don't have anywhere to immediately go, it's true," Ms. Zamudio said. "We see a lot of seniors between 11 at night and six in the morning just waiting for buses to maybe go to a shelter to see if they have a bed available." A Scripps spokesperson gave CBS8 the following statement: "Scripps Health works with patients to develop a discharge plan, giving them discharge instructions, providing the patient with information and access to community resources for homeless individuals (including shelter referral information if the patient desires), and providing a transportation voucher to their chosen destination. While we create and provide a hospital discharge plan, the patient has the right to accept or decline the resources offered. "We're proud of the tireless efforts by our dedicated staff in helping patients address what can be very challenging situations in the hospital discharge process. We have no reason to believe there has been any deviation in our adherence to our discharge process." n Sanford to hire more than 700 foreign nurses by 2025 By Mackenzie Bean S ioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health is planning to hire more than 700 internationally trained nurses over the next three years to work at the system's four major medical centers and several critical access hospitals, Chief Nursing Officer Erica DeBoer, RN, told Becker's June 15. As of June 15, Sanford had extended 860 job offers to nurses in the Philippines, Brazil, Canada and Mexico, among other countries. The health system is partnering with the international nursing agency Connetics USA for recruitment and onboarding support. The nurses will be employed directly by Sanford through an initial three-year contract, though the goal is to retain them for much longer, according to Ms. DeBoer. She said about 75 percent of the nurses Sanford leaders have inter- viewed are planning to come to the U.S. with their families. The system said it welcomed its first seven internationally trained nurses last month and plans to gradually onboard more small groups of nurses over the next three years. "We have them onboarded, and then we work with them on acculturation, because as you can imagine, there is a big transition that happens," Ms. DeBoer said. Sanford covers housing for nurses during their first few months in the country and has developed a program to help them navigate tasks such as setting up bank accounts and cellphones and connecting children with schools. "As they join our communities, we want to wrap our arms around them and help them understand the importance of our resources," Ms. DeBoer said. "We are trying to be incredibly intentional." n Supreme Court sides with physicians in opioid prescribing case By Paige Twenter I n a 6-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of two physicians who were convicted of obstructing the Controlled Substance Act after prescribing hundreds of thousands of opioids, CNN reported June 27. In the majority opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that the current "regulatory language" is "ambiguous," and future cases concerning physicians prescribing controlled substances must prove the treatment lacked a "legitimate medical purpose" and the physician knew so. Experts told CNN the ruling will make it more difficult to prosecute physicians in similar cases. The two defendants were Xiulu Ruan, MD, and Shakeel Kahn, MD, who ran pain management practices in Alabama and Arizona, respectively, according to CNN. n

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