State Resumes All Hospital Inspections

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

In March of this year, surveyors from the Pennsylvania Health Department visited a Scranton hospital and found multiple violations of state and federal law including the premature discharge of a seriously ill patient.
Nonetheless a report on those findings was not completed and made public until months later. The delay was one of about 65 hospital survey reports put on hold, according to state officials, because of an order from a federal agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Nate Wardle, state Health Department spokesman, said the delay from mid-March through July was the result of a CMS directive to limit survey activity and focus on Covid-19 preparations and operations.
He said the order was lifted and state surveyors were authorized to resume normal survey activities on July 3.
Wardle said any backlog has been erased and all survey activities are now ongoing and up to date.
"Any surveys related to complaints which indicated a potential risk to patients, including risk for serious injury, serious harm or death, were not put on hold and did occur with site visits," Wardle said in an email response to questions.
"The hospital surveys that were most impacted were licensure surveys and recertification surveys," Wardle added.
The recently released report on the Regional Hospital of Scranton, however, indicates that violations of state laws and regulations were put on hold for several months.
"The report was held due to a directive from CMS," the July 17 report states, adding that the report was triggered by two complaints.
In one case detailed in the report a patient was discharged with a major headache. In fact a hospital employee told state surveyors the patient should have been transferred to another hospital.
The patient's mother "felt the patient received a lack of care."
The report cites the records of several patients who needed MRIs, but had to be sent to another hospital for a diagnosis.
The state inspectors also cited the hospital for failing to provide proper transfer orders for the same patients.
A review of hospital records showed the facility couldn't perform the ordered MRIs due to a shortage of MRI technicians.
"The facility failed to provide MRI services" in six of six records, the report states.
Despite the multiple failures the hospital failed to report the "infrastructure" failures as required under the state Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Act.
Also cited was a federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, barring hospitals from discharging patients prematurely.
In addition to the patient with the serious headache, other improperly transferred patients cited in the report included a stroke victim and a patient who fell from a ladder while putting up an 85 inch high curtain and apparently eloped without treatment at either hospital.
State inspection records show delayed reports were not all negative. Delayed reports on UPMC Altoona and the First Hospital of Wyoming Valley concluded that the facilities were in compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.
A report clearing another hospital complaint states that a report dating back to April was finally concluded on July 17 once state inspectors were able to visit the facility.
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