Chicago psych hospital may close after CMS pulls Medicare funding

A psychiatric hospital in Chicago is in imminent danger of closing after federal officials pulled its Medicare funding and state officials threatened to revoke its license, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Chicago Lakeshore Hospital lost its Medicare and Medicaid funding Dec. 23 after a CMS inspection found deficiencies "so serious they constitute an immediate threat to patient health and safety." 

Hospital officials told a judge in late December that without access to federal funding it will "undoubtedly close." 

Most patients in the facility receive Medicare and Medicaid benefits, the hospital said.

Chicago Lakeshore administrators said they are working to move all Medicare and Medicaid patients out of the hospital by the end of January.

State health officials said they expect to initiate a proceeding to revoke Chicago Lakeshore's license "imminently," due to the hospital's "continued failure to comply with regulations," according to the Tribune.

The revocation of its federal funding comes as the psychiatric hospital also faces allegations of physicial and sexual abuse of youth patients.

A Cook County public guardian sued the hospital last month, alleging youth patients were physically and sexually abused by staff and fellow patients. 

"Our hospital has been a last resort for highly acute patients with several failed placements and nowhere else to go," hospital administrators told the Tribune. "Quality patient care has always been a top priority for our dedicated staff."

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