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TGH Plan To Boost Safety For Psychiatric Ward OK'd

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 4, 2008

TAMPA - A federal agency has approved Tampa General Hospital's plan to improve patient safety in its psychiatric ward, reducing the threat the hospital would lose tens of millions of dollars in Medicare funding.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in Atlanta still must inspect the hospital this week in an unannounced visit to ensure the corrective actions promised are in place and working, agency spokeswoman Lee Millman said Wednesday.

Neither Tampa General nor Millman would release the details of the hospital's plan to improve conditions at its psychiatric ward. Hospital spokesman John Dunn said Tampa General will post the corrective plan on its Web site once the inspection happens.

The hospital's troubles with the agency began in late July when two patients in the hospital's psychiatric ward killed themselves just 40 hours apart.

Annette Howard, 44, hanged herself with a bed sheet tied to a closet door on July 21. Two days later, 28-year-old Brian Murphy hung himself from a bathroom door.

The deaths prompted an anonymous complaint to federal authorities and an investigation by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which is part of the Health and Human Services Department.

On Aug. 24, the agency sent Tampa General a letter threatening to terminate its Medicare reimbursements by Saturday if the hospital didn't take immediate action to protect patients.

The hospital received $168.4 million in Medicare reimbursements last year.

In its 44-page report, the federal agency outlined numerous safety concerns, including serious lapses in patient oversight and discrepancies in documentation. Cleaning chemicals were left in an unlocked closet. Patient checks, required at 15-minute intervals, either weren't done or weren't documented, and the ward appeared to be understaffed.
Hospital officials also refused to share adequate information about their own investigation into the suicides, the report said. The report categorized conditions at the psychiatric ward as so bad they posed "an immediate and serious threat to the health and safety of patients."

The hospital has declined comment on the specifics raised in the report, though Ron Hytoff, Tampa General Hospital's chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement when the report was released that he was "saddened and embarrassed" by the findings.

In addition to the scrutiny from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the hospital faces a lawsuit filed last week on behalf of Howard that accuses the hospital of "unlawful, deceptive and misleading business practices."

If the hospital passes its inspection, Tampa General will keep its Medicare funding. If it doesn't, the hospital still could accept Medicare patients, but they might be billed directly for services.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144 or sackerman@tampatrib.com.

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