Red River Regional Hospital (RRRH) in Bonham, Texas received encouraging news October 8 when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced they will extend the deadline for the hospital to meet compliance with accepted Medicare Conditions of Participation until November 10, 2014, while the hospital and CMS negotiate the terms of a mutually agreeable Systems Improvement Agreement (SIA). After the terms of the SIA are negotiated, the decertification will be removed.
Tiffany Camp, Risk Management Director at RRRH, stated, “We are extremely confident that we will be able to meet all requirements by that deadline.”
The hospital came under scrutiny when a CMS report documented discrepancies during their survey in May of 2014, with follow-up surveys in August and September.
Red River Regional Hospital immediately implemented changes to practices and procedures that would address concerns raised by the surveys, and now this further detailed review is assisting the hospital staff to be certain that the local quality healthcare provided by Red River fully satisfies all Medicare standards, as required by CMS.
Many of the concerns noted by Medicare were actually caused by a discrepancy between the hospital’s new comprehensive electronic patient medical records and the truncated printed versions of patient records which Medicare officials examined that didn’t contain all the detailed information on the patients that were reviewed.Â
“In all of their findings, it is important to note that Red River Regional Hospital was never cited for quality assurance or performance improvement deficiencies,” William Kiefer, Chief Nursing Officer at RRRH pointed out. “It is extremely rare for a hospital’s Medicare certification to be jeopardized without concerns regarding quality and performance.”
In fact, Red River Regional Hospital has been recognized by a variety of industry leaders for consistently providing quality health care in a rural setting, while also making pronounced advances in technology.
RRRH has been recommended by the State of Texas Health Department to receive Trauma Certification as well as Stroke Certification, which would make it only the third rural hospital in the nation recommended for approval.
In April 2014, Red River Regional Hospital was one of only 33 health facilities statewide to receive the Texas Medical Foundation (TMF) Health Quality Improvement Gold Award. Tom Manley, CEO of TMF Health Quality Institute said when presenting the Gold Award to RRRH, “Quality improvement is a complex and demanding process, and we thank these hospitals for their commitment to improving the health of Texans and the efficiency of health care in our state”.
More recently, the hospital received its COLA Lab Accreditation in September 2014.
Other recent awards garnered by Red River Regional Hospital include the Rural Hospital IT Award of Excellence in October 2013, and David Conejo was awarded the Essence of Leadership Award in January 2014 by the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals (TORCH) Leadership & Management Institute.
“The reality is that all hospitals have a need for continued improvement,” said Mr.Conejo. “Unfortunately, the care is not always perfect. In some cases, the effect of diseases of a patient can’t be remedied such as diabetes, kidney failure, COPD, and heart disease, but we will always continue to strive to improve.”