The original article can be found in: Virgin Islands Daily News By JOY BLACKBURN
ST. CROIX – Federal regulators have approved two plans for correcting deficiencies at Luis Hospital.
One plan that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved arose from the hospital’s poor performance during a September inspection.
CMS had threatened to bar the hospital from participating in Medicare and Medicaid – which means Luis would not be reimbursed for treating Medicare and Medicaid patients – unless the two parties could reach an agreement as to how the hospital would rectify a number of issues federal inspectors found.
Medicare in particular represents a large portion of the hospital’s revenue.
After a months-long back-and-forth, and after rejecting two previous plans, CMS notified Luis Hospital on Tuesday that it had approved a third revision of the plan of correction, said Dr. Kendall Griffith, Luis Hospital’s interim chief executive officer.
Additionally, CMS approved the hospital’s proposed plan of correction for fixing problems uncovered during a January inspection, Griffith said.
“I’m very happy about that. The staff worked extremely hard to create that plan of correction,” he said. “Now the real work begins. Now we have a road map to bring back quality to the organization.”
The hospital had been working for months to come up with the plan of correction that CMS would accept for the deficiencies found during the September survey. That survey, and CMS’ rejection of the two previous corrections plans, led the hospital board to appoint Griffith interim CEO in January to lead compliance efforts.
Griffith said he did not know what would become of a settlement agreement the hospital had entered into with CMS that was supposed to expire last month.
“What I do know is that they are happy with the plan we have in place,” he said.
Griffith said that CMS is likely to resurvey the hospital within 30-45 days.
“We are working very hard. We already started to implement a lot of what is in the plan of correction,” he said. “I look forward to CMS coming back and seeing the work that’s been done.
“I want to prove to them – and to the community – that we’re serious about bringing back quality to the hospital,” Griffith said.
