CMS notified Detroit Medical Center's Harper University Hospital that its participation in the Medicare program would end April 15 unless infection control issues are corrected, according to The Detroit News.
CMS sent the hospital a letter in January about the possible Medicare termination after the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs inspected the facility in December. Inspectors found flying insects in the hospital's intensive care unit and lapses in sterile processing of surgical instruments, according to The Detroit News.
The hospital was inspected after four physicians claimed they were terminated from management positions at Harper University Hospital and DMC Heart Hospital in Detroit for raising concerns about quality of care.
Two of those physicians — Amir Kaki, MD, and Mahir Elder, MD — filed a lawsuit March 25 against DMC and its parent company, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, alleging retaliation. DMC said the allegations are false.
"As we've said previously, we asked Drs. Elder and Kaki to step down from their administrative leadership roles in the DMC cardiovascular service line in October 2018 due to violations of our standards of conduct," DMC said in a statement to the Detroit Free Press. "Any suggestion that these leadership transitions were made for reasons other than violations of our standards of conduct is false."
Most hospitals take necessary steps to correct deficiencies before Medicare funding is cut off. According to The Detroit News, only two hospitals were terminated from the Medicare program in 2018.
DMC did not respond to The Detroit News' request for comment.
Access the full Detroit News article here.
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