The Brattleboro Retreat Psychiatric Hospital has until Nov. 5 to reach an agreement with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to make systemic improvements to patient care or lose its federal certification, officials confirmed Wednesday.
“I don’t really see a scenario where the agreement is not finalized by then,” said Retreat Vice President for Strategy and Development Konstantin von Krusenstiern in an email, “From our perspective the November 5 date is not the focus, but rather what are the steps we are going to take over the coming many months.”
The Retreat was at risk of losing its ability to participate in Medicare and Medicaid after two suicide attempts and a sexual assault in the past six months in the hospital’s adolescent inpatient unit.
Last week the Retreat said state investigators, working on behalf of CMS, made it clear that the hospital had not addressed patient safety and quality assurance issues, and was going to lose its certification.
Gov. Shumlin intervened, calling the regional director of CMS and helping broker an opportunity for the Retreat to enter a Systems Improvement Agreement (SIA) instead of losing its certification.
Such an agreement will allow the hospital to avoid termination in exchange for submitting to a prolonged period of increased oversight from CMS, which could last as long as two years, a state official said.
But as part of the agreement, the Retreat must hire a CMS-approved consultant to help it make lasting changes to its patient care practices and governance structure.
Ohio-based Compass Clinical Consulting is a CMS-approved monitor for organizations undergoing a Systems Improvement Agreement, according to its website.
“The SIA allows hospitals to continue receiving CMS funding while a third-party monitors its policies, facilities, and patient care until the serious problems that caused them to fall out of compliance are fixed,” according to the consulting firm, “The agreement grants the hospital additional time to make sustainable improvements in complex quality, cultural, policy, and procedural deficiencies.”
Specific details of the Retreat’s agreement with CMS have not been made public.
