Northlake Behavioral Health System in Mandeville, La., has received two "immediate jeopardy" designations for substandard patient care within a year and is at risk of losing the ability to collect Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, nola.com reported March 6.
In a Jan. 31 letter, the Louisiana Department of Health told Northlake that it violated federal hospital standards and must submit a corrective action plan to fix the issues. A Jan. 22 inspection found that several employees were unaware that they had patients under their care who had to be supervised closely or kept away from other patients.
Northlake is confident that it has addressed the issues and will pass the upcoming CMS inspection, Tony Shir, president of New Orleans-based Ness Healthcare, which operates the hospital, told nola.com.
Last year, Northlake came under fire for failing to maintain prescribed levels of supervision and not adequately screening staff, with some workers having disqualifying criminal records under state law, according to the report.
The Joint Commission also revoked Northlake's accreditation in April 2022 for failing to meet patient safety standards. The hospital has applied for reaccreditation through a different entity.