GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - Federal officials have told a South Carolina hospital it will lose its contract to treat Medicare patients in mid-April unless it corrects problems found in an audit after an emergency room patient who was attacking people died when he was strapped faced down on a gurney.
Donald Smith’s death in March at Greenville Memorial Hospital led to an investigation of the hospital by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The agency found problems with how it handles patient rights, its governing board and its nursing services, officials said.
The federal agency has told the hospital it will stop paying Medicare claims April 16 unless the problems are corrected.
“We are committed to implementing our action plan that ensures that we meet all requirements and that there is no interruption in Medicare funding and patient care,” Scott Sasser, chair of emergency medicine for the hospital, told The Greenville News (https://grnol.co/2njlCYE ).
Smith had an altercation in the Greenville hospital’s emergency room March 6. He was placed with his chest and face down on a bed, restrained and was given a shot without any review of his condition, said April Washington, a spokeswoman for the federal Medicare agency.
Smith, 48, died because he couldn’t breathe normally in the position he was in, the coroner’s office ruled.
A criminal investigation into Smith’s death continues, and the hospital said the security guards no longer work for them.
Along with filing a plan to correct the problems, Greenville Memorial Hospital can also appeal the decision to stop Medicare payments, which would mean patients on the government’s health plan could keep going to the hospital for an additional two months.
The decision only affects the hospital. Doctor’s officers and other health care facilities run by the hospital system don’t have their Medicare payments at risk.
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Information from: The Greenville News, https://www.greenvillenews.com
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