CA health officials probing hospitals with high infection rates

California health regulators are joining state and federal investigators in examining the practices of Prime Healthcare, a Southern California hospital chain with an unusually high rate of life-threatening infections, according to letters released to California Watch yesterday.

In the letter to lawmakers, California Department of Public Health authorities described extraordinary steps they plan to take to examine cases of septicemia in Prime hospitals, including reviews of individual patient records and hospital infection-control practices.