LITTLE ROCK — Gov. Mike Beebe congratulated State Hospital workers Wednesday for the “often thankless” task of successfully completing an extensive turnaround plan that allowed the facility to maintain its status as a Medicaid and Medicare provider.
“Sometimes we just need to back up and say there are some jobs that are harder than others,” Beebe told a group of employees gathered to celebrate completion of the plan, called a systems improvement agreement.
That plan, which included changes to facilities, treatment and staffing, came after site inspectors from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found repeated problems at the public psychiatric hospital and threatened to pull its eligibility to receive the reimbursements.
The Arkansas Department of Human Services, which operates the hospital, negotiated a plan with federal officials that gave the hospital a little more than a year to complete a top-to-bottom overhaul to maintain its Medicaid and Medicare provider status and the millions of dollars of funds that come with it.
After hours of meetings, several rounds of staffing changes and a surprise, week-long inspection, staff members and administrators learned in October that the hospital was once again in “substantial compliance” with federal standards and free of most of the problems that once jeopardized its eligibility to treat those patients.
Administrators project that the hospital’s current fiscal year’s $44.2 million budget will include about $8.16 million in Medicaid funding and $3.8 million in Medicare reimbursements.
Beebe said he watched the hospital’s improvement process carefully, reading updates and site surveys and recognizing that all of the decisions that leaders made would have to be implemented by “front line” employees.
“You are dealing with issues every single day that affect the lives of a vulnerable population,” he said.
The hospital’s improvement plan came after federal inspectors identified multiple cases of “immediate jeopardy” that threatened the health and well-being of patients there dating back to 2010. Those situations included a suicidal adolescent who was taken to the emergency room after he bloodied his nose by beating his head on the door of a seclusion room.
Reports also called for a “culture change” in the way staff members relate to patients and one another.
October’s final report highlighted noticeable changes in staff morale and behavior.
Hospital Chief Operating Officer Steve Henson praised employees for their work and called for continued improvement.
Patient complaints are at an all-time low for the hospital, and restraint and seclusion of patients — once a troublesome issue — is trending downward, he said.
The hospital plans a series of meetings to increase cooperation in the coming months, Henson said.
“Even with all of these challenges, there is no reason to suggest we should be less dedicated to our patients,” he said.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found some rule violations when its personnel visited the hospital for its final inspection, but those concerns were not significant enough to prevent the hospital from regaining its status as a Medicaid and Medicare provider, a report from the agency said.
Hospital leaders have already dealt with most of those violations, and they have created a plan to remedy the rest in coming months.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/13/2012