Naples Community Hospital in Naples, FL. is waiting to learn if its immediate jeopardy status has been lifted and whether it can remain in the federal Medicare program, according to information provided by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
In a December 21, 2011 letter, officials from the Atlanta office of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services notified the 420-bed hospital that a full Medicare survey conducted in mid-December identified deficiencies in three broad categories: governing body, quality assessment performance improvement, and infection control.
The letter asked NCH to submit a plan of correction and warned that "failure to achieve compliance will result in the hospital's termination under Medicare effective March 14, 2012."
The POC was submitted on Jan 15, 2012.
According to state and federal documents, Naples Community Health faced a number of complaint and follow-up surveys in 2011 involving both federal and state deficiencies. Most of the problems uncovered by AHCA, which contracts with CMS to perform the surveys, involved minor deficiencies that were quickly resolved.
However, a complaint survey conducted in mid-October was allegedly related to the death of a patient and resulted in NCH being placed under immediate jeopardy status for deficiencies in emergency services and its governing body.
According to CMS documents, proper procedures were not followed in the transfer of an 80-year old patient from an urgent care center to a nearby hospital for a higher level of care. "Transport orders contributed to the confusion as to the transport entity and where the patient was to be transported," says the survey.
In a POC submitted on October 28, Naples Community Health said it would audit emergency center transfers for 90 days to review its procedures related to patient transfers. A follow-up survey conducted in November determined that NCH was in compliance with Medicare participation rules and its immediate jeopardy status was lifted.
At that time, AHCA told hospital officials that the agency would return to "conduct a full Medicare survey."
That survey, conducted in December, re-imposed Naples Community Hospital’s immediate jeopardy status. In the POC submitted January 15, NCH officials outlined the steps it had already taken to meet the Medicare conditions of participation, including the establishment of a board quality committee to coordinate the hospital’s clinical improvement activities, creation of a multi-disciplinary quality assurance committee, and revision of its medications security procedures.
Since August 2011 HealthLeaders Media has reported on five hospitals or health systems that have faced the loss of the Medicare funds because of survey findings resulting in immediate jeopardy status: Parkland Memorial Hospital (Dallas), Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Grady Memorial Hospital (Atlanta), Cape Fear Valley Medical Center (Fayetteville, NC) and now Naples Community Hospital (FL).
See Also:
Grady Memorial Deficiencies Persist After Second CMS Survey
Parkland Signs Improvement Agreement, Remains Open
Margaret Dick Tocknell is a reporter/editor with HealthLeaders Media.
