Report outlines fatal flaws at Pine Ridge hospital
A South Dakota reservation hospital found to be in "immediate jeopardy" as part of a federal probe didn't provide proper sedation before opening patients' airways with plastic tubing and inappropriately transferred pregnant women in labor, according to a report.
The details of the Pine Ridge Indian Health Service (IHS) hospital's shortcomings come in a report released Friday to Argus Leader Media.
Surveyors from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) found that hospital staff didn't appropriately assess patients' conditions upon arrival at the emergency department, didn't adequately consider patient history in diagnosing conditions, made patients wait when they needed immediate care and weren't properly trained to open patients' airways and provide artificial breathing. Agents from the federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid reviewed quality of care provided at the hospital between November 28 and December 1.
Leaders from IHS and CMS agreed on a plan of correction for the hospital Thursday, which will allow it to maintain funding for Medicare and Medicaid. The federal health insurance dollars are a key funding source for the hospital.
Read more: http://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2016/12/23/report-outlines-fatal-flaws-pine-ridge-hospital/95789640/