Third Immediate Jeopardy for Cape Fear Valley Medical Center

Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, NC has received notification from the Atlanta office of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that it faces its third immediate jeopardy status in as many months.

The 485-bed medical center, which is a safety-net hospital, must submit a corrective action plan to CMS by Jan. 19. Another survey will be performed to confirm that the CAP has been implemented and is successful.

Although the exact nature of the new problem is unknown, CMS applies the immediate jeopardy designation to situations that represent an immediate and serious threat to patient health and safety. In an e-mail statement, Vince Benbenek, a CFVMC spokesperson, referenced a telemetry problem. "The deficiency found in the Dec 22 survey relates to our policy for telemetry. Our practice was consistent with national guidelines. Our policy however, was not in line with our practice. Therefore we have updated our policy to match our practice."

While Benbenek confirmed that the medical center has been under immediate jeopardy status three separate times, he declined to comment on CMS's findings or what precipitated the CMS surveys. He did confirm that the findings date back to October. "These are individual situations that involve patients, and HIPPA prevents us from discussing patient information."