As a Houston, Texas medical malpractice lawyer, I handle cases throughout the Houston metropolitan area, including Baytown.
Altus Baytown Hospital
Altus Baytown Hospital is a 14-bed surgery specialty hospital located at 1626 W. Barker Road, in Baytown, TX 77251. The hospital is owned by Oprex Surgery Baytown, LP.
Altus Baytown Hospital focuses largely on inpatient and outpatient surgeries and procedures, including breast, ear, nose and throat (ENT), gastroenterology (GI), general, gynecologic, hand, neurosurgery, orthopedic, pain management, plastic, podiatric, urologic, vein, and weight loss (bariatric) surgery.
The hospital has a diagnostic radiology imaging department with an MRI scanner, CT scanner, PET scanner, ultrasound, and x-ray scanner and also offers nuclear medicine. It also has a Women’s Center, which focuses on breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. The hospital’s cancer center offers radiation therapy treatment, a breast care program, and a patient navigator program.
This hospital first opened as Altus Health System in the fall of 2010. By 2014, it rebranded itself as Altus Baytown Hospital. Even in its short time of existence, the hospital has already attracted the attention of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (Medicare/Medicaid) for quality of care concerns.
Medicare/Medicaid Penalty for 2017-2018
In 2014, Medicare/Medicaid began a program to give hospitals financial incentives to improve patient safety and the quality of care that they provide. To do so, Medicare/Medicaid conducts a robust review of reports and data submitted by accredited hospitals.
The Medicare/Medicaid review program looks infection rates from a number of procedures including surgeries, hysterectomies, urinary tract catheters, and central line tubes.
The Medicare/Medicaid review program also looks at each hospital’s infection rates for certain bacteria including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C-diff).
The last area of assessment that the Medicare/Medicaid review program considers is the rates of 10 selected hospital-acquired injuries including blood clots, sepsis, post-surgical wound ruptures, bedsores, hip fractures, pneumothorax, perioperative hemorrhage or hematoma, postoperative acute kidney injury requiring dialysis, postoperative respiratory failure, unrecognized accidental punctures or lacerations of the abdomen, pelvic area.
In late December 2017, Medicare/Medicaid announced penalties for the bottom 25% of hospitals nationwide on the performance measures that it tracks. For 2017-2018, Altus Baytown Hospital made this undistinguished list and will be subject to a 1% Medicare reimbursement penalty.
We are here to help
If you have experienced poor care at Altus Baytown Hospital, which caused a significant injury, call the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Painter Law Firm, in Houston, Texas, at 281-580-8000, for a free consultation about your potential case.
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Robert Painter is a medical malpractice and wrongful death attorney at Painter Law Firm PLLC, in Houston, Texas. He is a former hospital administrator who sues hospitals, physicians, surgeons, and other healthcare providers on behalf of patients and family members. In 2017, H Texas magazine recognized him as one of Houston’s top lawyers. In the same year, the Better Business Bureau honored Painter Law Firm with its Award of Distinction.
