Saturday, January 14, 2017

Opening of new CUMC University Campus downgrades trauma services of the old Creighton University hospital after struggling to maintain its trauma rating for years

The second floor of the new community health center offers only outpatient medical services
Creighton University Medical Center (CUMC), formerly known as the old St. Joseph Hospital, will soon close its doors in August 2017, but a new, scaled-back, 86,000-square-foot, $36.5 million community health center at 24th and Cuming Streets, which opened this past week, will kind of take its place.

CUMC (formerly known as St. Joseph Hospital) is closing its doors in August,
but its replacement is curiously scaling back medical services from its previous
inpatient trauma designation
The newly dubbed CHI Health University Campus at 2412 Cuming Street opened its doors for the first time Monday morning to some confusion and questions from the public.

The old CUMC was a full service, inpatient trauma center that at times struggled to maintain its Level-1 Trauma certification from the state's Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS.)

Back on October 21, 2014, the DHHS denied the hospital an application for Level-1 Trauma designation, citing CUMC for safety deficiencies in meeting four areas of comprehensive patient care standards: 1) clinical capabilities in general surgery, 2) clinical qualifications in neurosurgery, 3) clinical capabilities in orthopedic surgery, and 4) having enough verified or equivalent registered nurses or trauma nurses staffed in the emergency department.