Data raises questions about hospital chain’s malnutrition diagnoses

February 20th, 2011, 6:30 am
Chris Knap, Investigations Editor

Poor nutrition among the elderly is not unheard of. California hospitals, on average, found malnutrition among 7.5 percent of their senior patients in 2009.

But the for-profit Prime Healthcare chain, which includes four hospitals in Orange County, reported much higher rates: They diagnosed malnutrition in one out of every four of their patients aged 65 and older, according to a computer analysis of state health data by our colleagues at the non-profit newsroom California Watch.
Prime found the highest malnutrition rate in California—39 percent—at Huntington Beach Hospital. It’s worthy of note that Huntington Beach has one of the lowest poverty rates in the U.S. – 5.6 percent – and average income of more than $100,000 per family. The malnutrition rate at Hoag Memorial, eight miles away, was 5.6 percent.

California Watch interviewed Shannon Brownlee, acting director of the New America Foundation think tank’s Health Policy Program in Washington, D.C., who questioned whether the surge of malnutrition reports at Prime was the result of “a clinical decision or a business decision.â€