Marin General Hospital Cited for Compliance Problems, Could Lose Federal Medicare, Medi-Cal Funds

CMS officials have identified unspecified compliance problems at Marin General Hospital and are "forcing the hospital to correct the errors or lose its federal funding" for treatment of Medicare and Medi-Cal beneficiaries, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. CMS did not disclose the details of the compliance problems, but Marin General officials said that the violations involve issues such as problems with physician approval of dietician recommendations and cleanliness of gurneys, as well as problems with pharmaceutical, surgical and anesthesia services.

In response to a complaint, CMS officials first visited the Marin General in February and found four compliance problems. They returned to Marin General in May and found that hospital officials had corrected three of the four compliance problems but identified six additional problems. On July 16, CMS informed Marin General officials that they had until Friday to submit a corrective action plan. Marin General spokesperson Kathryn Graham said that the hospital submitted the plan to CMS on time. Marin General has until Oct. 16 to address the compliance problems or lose federal Medicare and Medi-Cal funds, which account for as much of 50% of annual revenue. Marin General is the fourth Northern California hospital in recent months to face the possibility of losing federal Medicare and Medi-Cal funds for compliance problems, the Chronicle reports.

Graham said, "Our belief is we have addressed all the issues and are in compliance," adding that CMS officials may have raised their level of scrutiny. Steven Chickering, a spokesperson for CMS, said that only about one out of 40 to 50 inspected hospitals fails to correct compliance problems and is issued a warning after a second visit. Chickering added, "If left unaddressed ... these (violations) could cause actual harm or what we call negative outcomes to patients" (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/7).