N. Idaho medical centers await inspections

[okarol]

Last updated January 4, 2009 12:38 p.m. PT
N. Idaho medical centers await inspections

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- Some health care centers are having to delay hiring and some patients are having to travel longer distances because state inspections are not being carried out, officials say.

Twelve dialysis stations at the $1 million Fresenius Medical Care/Hayden Lake Dialysis center have not been used for a year because state inspections have not been done, forcing patients to travel outside the area.

Nearby, the $19 million Life Care Center of Post Falls is facing similar delays because it has not been inspected.

"We still have no word," Valerie Zaharie-Glauser, executive director of Life Care Center, told the Coeur d'Alene Press. "We're waiting. We think it will be soon."

Only two patients are being treated at the 65,480-square-foot rehabilitation facility that could handle about 130 patients and employ 150 workers.

Idaho Health and Welfare, under contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Welfare, decides which facilities to inspect, or survey, based on a federal ranking that is based on need.

"We do these on behalf of the federal agency," said Emily Simnitt, spokeswoman for Idaho Health and Welfare. "They have not told us to do the surveys yet."

She said the Life Care Center could be inspected in March.

"That's great news," said Bryan Tapia, Northwest division vice president for Life Care Centers of America in Federal Way, Wash. "It would be awesome if we could get that done."

The company is also building assisted living centers near the rehabilitation center that will eventually have more than 250 apartments. Once those apartments fill and staff is hired, payroll is expected to be about $2 million.

"It all depends on how quick we can admit patients," Tapia said.

Joe Stevens has been spending four hours three days a week on a dialysis machine at a Coeur d'Alene facility that requires him to make a 60-mile trip each day on public transportation.

His travel time will be cut significantly when a dialysis center opens in Sandpoint.

"I watch TV," Stevens said. "I will get to learn some new technicians."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_id_inspection_delays.html

[Rerun]

My ex-father-in-law has to drive 2 hours one way to dialyze in Post Falls.  When they open the one in Sandpoint it will be 30 minutes.  I can't believe the hold up is a bunch of red tape.

                                                                                 

[Budluv]

I was supposed to go to the unit in Hayden but they never opened... The Nurse at the Post Falls unit said in has been scrapped..  We got the chairs and TVs at our unit when they decided not to open.

(Hey Rerun... I have dialysis with your ex-father in law... (Think I know who it is... But not sure)