Two troubled Texas hospitals have been spared the loss of federal funding over patient-care issues.
The CMS has indefinitely delayed plans to strip Medicare and Medicaid funding from Hopkins County Memorial Hospital in Sulphur Springs. Concerns about the 96-bed facility were first raised after an August state inspection, which reported that psychotropic medications were given to patients who should not have received them. A subsequent inspection found that the hospital failed to provide a safe and sanitary environment to avoid possible transmission of infectious diseases. The hospital agreed to a systems improvement agreement with the CMS.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph Medical Center in Houston also won a reprieve from loss of federal funding. The CMS announced last month that it would terminate funding at 374-bed St. Joseph after the facility was found in violation of four protocols for Medicare participation: governing body, patient rights, nursing services and infection control. The citations resulted after a patient this year was tased, shot and handcuffed by two hospital security staff members who were also police officers.
The hospital has entered into an agreement with the CMS so it will continue to get funds through Jan. 15 until it, too, can secure a systems improvement agreement.
