CMS has extended El Paso, Texas-based Providence Memorial Hospital’s deadline to complete compliance efforts related to the hospital’s tuberculosis exposure earlier this year.
In September, the hospital was placed in "immediate jeopardy" status with CMS after hundreds of babies and dozens of employees were exposed to TB when an employee, who worked in the hospital’s post-partum and newborn nursery, worked for nearly a year with an active case of TB.
In response to being placed in “immediate jeopardy” status, the hospital submitted a patient safety and infection control correction plan to CMS in late September. According to the El Paso Times, CMS has extended the hospital’s deadline to complete its compliance efforts to Jan. 16 so the hospital can respond to findings from CMS’ follow-up survey, which took place Dec. 4.
“[CMS] has changed the date by which it will determine whether our hospital is in compliance with Medicare’s Conditions of Participation,” a hospital spokeswoman told the El Paso Times.
More information on the TB exposure is available here from the El Paso Department of Public Health.
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