DMC commits $2.3M to improve two hospitals
Detroit Medical Center is committing to spending $2.3 million to improve medical services at Detroit Receiving and Sinai-Grace hospitals, the health system said Wednesday.
The money is being used to purchase equipment for emergency services at Sinai-Grace and for continued development of the Neurological Center of Excellence at Detroit Receiving Hospital.
The investment was approved by the Legacy DMC Board, which oversees capital investments promised when when DMC was bought by the for-profit Vanguard Health Systems in 2010 and then acquired three years later by Tenet Healthcare, a Dallas-based hospital chain.
The $2.3 million is in addition to $850 in capital investments made under that deal, DMC officials said. Physicians serving as trustees on the Legacy DMC Board identified 60 pieces of emergency, surgical and neurological equipment to improve services at the two hospitals.
The health system last year spent $1.6 million in new and replacement equipment and made other improvements to fix problems with dirty surgical instruments uncovered by a six-month Detroit News investigation published in August 2016. The DMC said no patients were harmed.
“Our commitment to Detroit’s residents has never wavered and has never been stronger. These latest expenditures are directly focused on front-line patient care, benefiting the patients who entrust their care to us and the dedicated surgeons and health teams who care for them as well as the communities we serve,” CEO Anthony Tedeschi said in a Wednesday statement.
Legacy DMC President Joe Walsh said his board is “pleased with the results of the capital projects completed at the various DMC facilities.”
“The goal from the beginning was to ensure quality, accessible health care for all of Detroit’s residents, including indigent and at-risk populations,” Walsh said in a press release. “That’s a fundamental part of DMC’s mission.
“The system has upheld and met that goal and their financial commitments under the Legacy covenants in regards to the five-year capital expenditure.”
KBouffard@detroitnews.com