Sharp Grossmont Files Plan To Keep Medicare, Medi-Cal Funding
On Tuesday, officials for Sharp Grossmont Hospital submitted their plan of correction to CMS, just as the agency publicly released a report detailing problems in critical areas that allegedly contributed to the deaths of two patients, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
The CMS report stems from inspections by state officials in April and May following the deaths of the two patients cited in the report.
Steven Chickering, head certification officer at CMS' regional office in San Francisco, said that the report detailed "significant" problems in five of 18 critical categories:
- Oversight by the hospital's governing board;
- Complying with patient rights;
- Monitoring and improving patient care;
- Quality of nursing care; and
- Quality of the physical environment.
CMS officials now will review Sharp Grossmont's plan of correction, and state officials will conduct another inspection.
Hospital officials said they have pursued disciplinary action against problematic employees and kicked off new educational programs to address problems detailed in the report.
If problems persist, Chickering said the facility could lose eligibility to participate in Medicare and Medi-Cal as early as Oct. 15. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program.
Medicare and Medi-Cal account for about 50% of patient care revenue at Sharp Grossmont.
Chickering said that 99% of facilities he deals with in similar cases address the problems and retain federal funding (Clark, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7/30).