DepositPhotos file image
Michigan Radio has attention-grabbing Detroit healthcare news:
Two Detroit Medical Center hospitals are in danger of losing federal payments after they failed health and safety inspections last month.
State inspectors found multiple infection control violations at Detroit’s Harper and Receiving Hospitals.
Michigan Radio's post on Thursday.
In other words, lax procedures at those Midtown treatment centers could spread infections.
Reporter Sarah Cwiek lists details that include these shockers about Receiving:
- Inconsistent use of surgical gloves and proper hand hygiene, including one surgeon who put surgical tape on an incision without wearing gloves or hand-washing.
- "Failed to maintain an ongoing infection control program designed to prevent, control and investigate infections and communicable diseases for 12 of 12 months reviewed, resulting in the potential for transmission of infectious agents for all patients."
Inspectors at Harper saw unsanitary Intensive Care Unit patient rooms, including the presence of flying insects.
The pair of DMC hospitals could lose Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement eligibility unless safety risks are addressed, administrators are warned in a recent federal letter quoted by Cwiek:
DepositPhotos file image"The deficiencies cited are significant and limit your hospital's capacity to render adequate care and to ensure the health and safety of your patients. Your hospital is no longer deemed to meet the Medicare Conditions of Participation."
Problems are being fixed, the medical center says."The DMC remains committed to providing residents of Detroit with safe, accessible, quality care," according to a statement quoted by the group of three public radio stations based in Ann Arbor.
State licensing "investigators are back on site at Receiving Hospital this week," the broadcast journalist adds.
-- Alan Stamm
