Feds OK Major Checkup for Hospital
By LEANNE GENDREAU
Updated 3:15 PM EDT, Mon, Aug 31, 2009
The feds have approved an investigation into Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Care Center after a complaint about an oxygenator failing, the Hartford Business Journal reports.
A top-to-bottom probe is not unusual, authorities told the publication. Since Oct. 1, there have been nine such investigations in Connecticut.
“On July 1, the state [of Connecticut] asked the federal government for the green light to conduct a survey to determine if any federal laws, conditions of participation with Medicare and Medicaid had been violated,” Roseanne Pawelec, an agency spokeswoman, told the HBJ.
The investigation ended on Aug. 3 and determined that the minimum health and safety standards or conditions for participation in the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs were not met, which triggered the full-scale investigation now underway, Pawelec told the HBJ.
“The expected survey that the Department of Public Health (DPH) is conducting on behalf of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) is a follow-up review related to our early-July, five-day voluntary suspension of cardiac surgeries,” Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Care Center said in a news release.
The department is using the time to conduct a routine biannual licensure inspection, officials said in a release.
Read the full report on the HBJ Web site.
First Published: Aug 31, 2009 2:08 PM EDT
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