Sexual assault jeopardized Flower's access to Medicare, Medicaid
Agency approves hospital's correction plan
5/8/2014ProMedica Flower Hospital President Alan Sattler said tonight that the hospital has taken the immediate action required to protect its access to Medicare and Medicaid payments, but hospital officials dispute some of the analysis by federal authorities who threatened to take away Medicare and Medicaid money in the wake of a sexual assault at the hospital last month.
The hospital has created a plan to increase security in the psychiatric unit and create a new oversight board to ensure the plan is carried out. The hospital's existing security procedures came into question after a woman was assaulted in a hospital bathroom.
After the April 1 attack, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that the hospuital was "out of compliance" for patient rights and demanded Flower come up with an action plan to correct the issue or possibly lose Medicare and Medicaid coverage.
Though the hospital complied, Mr. Sattler took issue with the contention by federal and state health officials that the hospital did not do a thorough analysis to determine systematic problems that contributed to the incident.
"When they issued the findings we did not have time to respond, " said Mr. Sattler. He noted that the action plan also addressed many of the concerns originally cited by CMS. "They would not have lifted the immediate jeopardy if they were not satisfied with our answers" he said.
Jesse Lee Buck, 33, of 616 Brighton Ave. was indicted Tuesday by a Lucas County grand jury for rape at the hospital. He is to be arraigned Monday before Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Stacy Cook. He was a patient at the hospital April 1 when he was accused of assaulting a 21-year-old Toledo woman in a bathroom.
In a written statement, CMS officials said that “Flower Hospital has submitted an acceptable plan of correction to CMS.”