Annual hospital inspections thorough

State hospital inspections aren’t a walk in the park. Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Crystal City last week passed its state inspection, after failing two previous inspections. Each of the state’s more than 140 hospitals gets annual walk-throughs, where inspectors look at labs and emergency rooms, record-keeping, infection rates, nursing staff numbers, patient food, and plain old cleanliness. Carey Smith says his state office, which oversees all Missouri hospital inspections, performed as many as 300 of them last year. While they may require improvements or order re-inspections, no state hospital has lost its license in modern times.