Parkland Hospital Analysis Shows Problems Continue

Consultants for the troubled Parkland Health and Hospital System submitted on Friday a corrective action plan it hopes will resolve ongoing deficiencies identified during an intensive three-month review of the hospital by Alvarez & Marsal Healthcare Industry Group, a New York-based management consulting firm that specializes in performance improvement.

Officials in the Dallas office of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are reviewing the CAP document. If they approve it, the document will be released to the hospital. That could happen early next week according to a CMS spokesperson. At that time the hospital or CMS will be free to publically release the CAP.

The CAP addresses a scathing gap analysis report also prepared A&M, which details a laundry list of shortcomings affecting almost every department in the health system. Both the CAP and the gap analysis are part of the systems improvement agreement between CMS and Parkland that allows the storied facility to remain open while it attempts to correct deficiencies that have threatened its closure.

A&M has a multi-million dollar contract with Parkland to guide the beleaguered hospital through the SIA process.

According to A&M's analysis, the safety-net hospital still has deficiencies that are significant enough to affect its Medicare participation. "If the deficiencies catalogued in this report are not addressed and remedied Parkland could not pass a CMS hospital survey and would not continue as Medicare participating hospital," the report reads.