Ark. hospital might have to give back $900K Stage 1 incentive
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is asking an Arkansas hospital to return $900,000 in Meaningful Use Stage 1 incentive pay due to a failure to meet all of the program measures.
A post-attestation audit found that Drew Memorial Hospital (DMH) in Monticello, Arkansas, failed to perform a risk assessment, according to an article in the Advance-Monticellonian.
The 49-bed acute care facility was one of the first hospitals to participate in the Meaningful Use program, CEO Scott Barrilleaux said at a Drew County Quorum Court meeting, according to the newspaper article. “We were one of the first wave of hospitals to take advantage of the program and these types of audit simply are not that common. When you’re the youngest and you don’t get to learn from other’s mistakes, these things happen.”
He went on to say that the hospital did a risk assessment in 2005 and another in 2013. “What we didn’t do was perform a risk assessment during the years outlined in the audit. So, at the moment we are scheduled to lose our year two payment of the agreement in the amount of $904,000.”
DMH plans to appeal the decision but has the resources to pay back the money if the appeal application is denied.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.