You Just Can’t Make This Up

No Loss of Taxpayer Funds for Hospital?

I was reading the March 22, 2016, issue of the Patriot Ledger.

“State errs in letter to Pembroke hospital…”

Whoa!  WHAT?

According to the article, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health issued a letter on 3/8/16 to Dr. Thomas Hickey, CEO of the 120-bed psych facility. The state health agency letter cited failures to meet “standards for patient safety and the administration of drugs,” and that failure to respond within 10 days would jeopardize the hospital’s provider agreement for accepting Medicare and Medicaid – taxpayer-funded health insurance

It’s important to understand: The State agency indicated that Pembroke Hospital’s failure to respond would jeopardize its agreement to accept taxpayer-funded health insurance.

However, according to the Ledger, the State now says its demand was made in error and that the for-profit hospital is NOT at risk of losing Medicare and Medicaid payments, which account for more than 75 percent of its revenue.

The State says it didn’t mean to send the letter of possibly losing their Medicaid and Medicare funding?

Why would the State renege on withdrawal of the facility’s taxpayers funding?

Does this mean that the State (and, specifically, the State Department of Public Health) deems it permissible to treat patients and staff in the way they have been treated, and the taxpayers will still be held fiscally responsible to support this facility? 

As a human being, I want everyone to be safe. I want to hear and see that the patients are getting the care that they need.

As a taxpayer, I demand my tax dollars be accounted for, and its recipients be held accountable.

So I ask, again: WHAT HAPPENED?

This hospital has been cited for a list of safety issues.  Healthcare workers suffering assaults; lack of safety mechanisms for staff (panic buttons, for example); no security staff or security protocol.

A young woman died in Pembroke Hospital.

A nurse caring for a patient – a patient who’d previously assaulted three staff members – suffered a near-loss of her ear and eye by this patient’s attack.

Why was this patient, with a history of violent staff assault, still on the unit?

What does it have to take to really do something that will make a difference?

The Ledger describes the death of a 20-year-old female. She was a patient at Pembroke Hospital for three days. Her admitting process hadn’t even been completed, yet at 5am a code blue was called. There is no mention of paramedics or ambulance being called; no mention of a physician. The Ledger’s articles mention code carts. Pembroke has one code cart available; however, Pembroke hospital has six units. Five units don’t have a code cart. Is there a trained physician in the vicinity to run that code? What good does a code cart do if there is no physician to handle the code?

The State Department of Mental Health vowed to step up its scrutiny of the hospital. What does that mean, and do they have any authority to do anything?

Please allow me to stress:

As a taxpayer I want to see changes at Pembroke Hospital.

I want Pembroke Hospital administration to fully and closely examine its policies and procedures. To treat its staff and patients as if they mean something, as if they are family.

NO ONE deserves to be treated the way this hospital has treated its staff and patients.

Without healthcare staff, you are left with nothing.

Sheila Wilson R.N. BSN MPH
President
Stop Healthcare Violence
www.stophealthcareviolence.org

Source: Patriot Ledger