CMS published a notice Nov. 21 threatening to terminate Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Medicare provider agreement Dec. 9, stating the hospital was not in compliance with conditions of participation in the program. On Nov. 29, CMS said it accepted VUMC's plan of correction, and the hospital is not at risk of losing its Medicare contract.
CMS sent VUMC the termination notice after the agency learned a patient died at the hospital in December 2017 due to a medication error. The fatal medication error occurred because the hospital failed "to ensure nurses followed medication administration policies and procedures," according to an inspection report. The hospital also failed to report the incident to the Tennessee Department of Health and to implement measures to ensure similar medication errors would not happen again, according to the inspection report.
On Nov. 29, a CMS spokesperson said the agency accepted VUMC's revised plan of correction, which isn't being released at this time. The hospital is now under an ongoing review as it works to implement the steps outlined in the correction plan. "We continue to work with State Survey Agency and VUMC to take corrective steps to protect the health and welfare of patients served by the facility," the CMS spokesperson wrote in an email to Becker's Hospital Review.
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