The Indian Health Service on Wednesday entered a one-year contract with the Joint Commission to improve the quality of care and patient safety at government-run hospitals in eight states, according to Argus Leader.
IHS will spend $700,000 to ensure hospitals in Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Oklahoma meet Joint Commission accreditation standards.
Last November, CMS conducted an investigation of an IHS hospital in Rosebud, S.D., and discovered the hospital was participating in a variety of dangerous healthcare practices.
Employees hand-washed surgical tools for six months when a sterilizer machine was broken, failed to disclose that a patient had an untreated case of tuberculosis and did not monitor a patient who delivered her baby prematurely on a bathroom floor.
The hospital's emergency department was closed for seven months while IHS addressed the concerns. It re-opened in July and is working to maintain CMS certification.
Sixteen IHS hospitals have already earned accreditation by the Joint Commission.
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