Federal officials have notified a major regional hospital in Fayetteville, N.C., that it could lose all federal health insurance reimbursements Jan. 19 unless serious problems found at the facility are corrected.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued formal notice to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center on Jan. 3 of the agency's intent to terminate funding. The move follows a December visit where inspectors found violations at the facility that regulators said threatened the safety of patients.

The federal agency issued a similar "immediate jeopardy" notice in October after an autopsy determined a 27-year-old man with mental illness was choked to death in April by hospital police and security officers while being restrained in the facility's emergency room. The immediate jeopardy finding indicates regulators found issues at the hospital that would put patients in immediate threat of physical harm.

As the hospital worked to resolve that complaint, a second notice of violation was issued Dec. 5 following the Nov. 22 death of a 30-year-old cancer patient on his way home after family members said the hospital discharged him against his will.

When regulators returned to the hospital on Dec. 22, still more problems were found and a third immediate jeopardy notice was issued, according to documents.

Lee Millman, a spokesman for the federal agency's regional office in Atlanta, said she could not discuss the details of the Dec. 22 violations because the agency's written report is not yet complete.

The Jan. 3 letter says the hospital has until the end of next week to submit a detailed plan of how it will correct the latest set of violations. If that plan is not approved, the hospital faces the potential loss of millions in monthly reimbursements for the care it provides patients who qualify for Medicare and Medicaid.

Vincent Benbenek, the hospital's vice president of marketing and outreach, issued a statement Friday saying the facility has already corrected the problems found during the most recent review.

"As we have demonstrated in the past, we fully expect CMS to accept that plan and make a return visit to Cape Fear Valley to validate that plan," Benbenek said. "We are confident that the upcoming survey will once again validate our plan and Medicare and Medicaid funding will not be terminated."