Hospital fined $1 million for past breaches, faces two years of scrutiny
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Numerous sources have noted that the sum is 20 times larger than the previous record-setting penalty levied against a Texas healthcare provider.
The hospital said in a news release that the terms of the agreement call for it to provide the state health department with monthly reports tracking its progress toward conditions set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last fall.
In July 2011, CMS surveyors made an unannounced weeklong visit and uncovered dangerous deficiencies in infection control, nursing services, medical records and other areas. CMS then notified the hospital that it was in jeopardy of losing its eligibility for reimbursement.
Parkland said that, over the next 24 months, it will update state officials on its internal programs for quality assurance and performance improvement while also reporting any serious adverse events within two business days of their occurrence.
On Aug. 31, the state health department released a docket outlining its agreement with Parkland and detailing some of its past breaches. These included a flubbed knee replacement that led to a leg amputation, two separate incidents of patients carrying loaded handguns and the “inappropriate restraint and seclusion of a male psychiatric emergency unit patient” who subsequently died. Click here to read the docket.
The agreement allows the hospital to “focus on completing the changes necessary to secure Parkland’s future as one of the most important health care assets in North Texas,” said Debbie Branson, chair of the hospital’s board of managers, in prepared remarks. “We will cooperate fully with this agreement as we continue to work toward completion of our corrective action plan.”
Prior to the CMS investigation, Parkland was best known as the hospital to which President John F. Kennedy was transported after being shot in Dallas’ Dealey Plaza on Nov. 22, 1963. The institution has plans to open new facilities in 2014.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.