CMS Warns Detroit Hospital to Improve IC Issues or Lose Funding
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has given Detroit Medical Center’s (DMC) Harper University Hospital until mid-April to correct its infection control problems or lose its federal funding, according to a story in The Detroit News. The hospital was notified in January of the deadline to pass an inspection. Failure to do so could result in Harper losing the funding that provides 85% of its inpatient revenue, according to the story. The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs conducted inspections in December on behalf of CMS after three cardiologists and a physician at DMC Heart Hospital claimed that they were terminated from management roles in retaliation for complaints they made about infection control issues. Heart Hospital shares many of Harper’s facilities and services. The inspection found flying insects in an intensive care unit, improperly attired surgical personnel, and problems with sterile processing of surgical instruments, the News reported.
Two of the cardiologists, Dr. Mahir Elder and Dr. Amir Kaki, filed a lawsuit this week in Detroit’s U.S. District Court, saying they were fired after complaining about dirty surgical instruments and other problems at DMC hospitals.
“Any suggestion that these leadership transitions were made for reasons other than violations of our Standards of Conduct is false,” DMC said in a statement released in response to the lawsuit.
Other DMC hospitals have come under recent scrutiny. Inspectors found that staff cuts at Detroit Receiving Hospital led to the discontinuation of surveillance of most surgical site infections. Meanwhile, Sinai-Grace Hospital, which also faces Medicare termination on August 31 if it doesn’t pass an inspection, was under threat of termination in 2018 because of building and nursing quality problems. Sinai-Grace recovered its deemed status in September but was inspected again in January after a November power outage left the hospital unable to treat a heart attack patient, who later died after being transferred to another hospital.