The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is threatening to pull key funding from a South Dakota hospital on a Native American reservation after an inspection flagged dangerous deficiencies in care.
The federal health agency placed the Rosebud Indian Health Service hospital on “immediate jeopardy” status last week, the Argus Leader reported. Federal officials gave the hospital near the Rosebud Indian Reservation until the end of the month to fix problems.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services inspectors surveyed the Rosebud hospital between July 24 and 26, but additional details about the inspection and deficiencies haven’t yet been released.
The notice comes more than two years after the hospital was cited for similar shortcomings that forced the temporary closures of the emergency room and other departments. The hospital has since closed down its surgical and obstetrics and gynecology units.
“These deficiencies are so serious that they constitute an immediate and serious threat to the health and safety of any individual who comes to your hospital to receive emergency services,” wrote Steven Chickering, an associate regional administrator for the federal health agency.
The hospital has submitted an improvement plan and is working with the agency’s inspectors, according to an Indian Health Service spokesman.
“IHS is committed to providing patients with quality care in the most safe and efficient manner possible,” the spokesman said. “The IHS has made measurable improvements through implementation of the quality framework, the development of its strategic plan, and other quality improvement efforts, and is working diligently to continue to improve.”
UPDATE:
A recently released Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report sheds more light on why the agency earlier this month warned the Rosebud Indian Health Service hospital to fix problems or lose critical funding.
The Argus Leader reports the federal agency released inspection reports from a July probe of the hospital on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.
Among incidents cited were a drunken 12-year-old girl who tried to hang herself while left alone, and a 35-year-old man who died of a heart attack in the emergency room after being pepper-sprayed and restrained.
The inspection determined the hospital didn’t give patients appropriate medical care or ensure their safety.
Hospital administrators say they take the report “very seriously” and have submitted an improvement plan.
The notice comes more than two years after hospital was cited for similar shortcomings.