54
HEALTHCARE
NEWS
ADVERTISINGINDEX
Note: Ad page number(s) given in parentheses
ADVERTISER
AHRMM. ahrmm19.org (pg. 37)
BioFire. biofiredx.com (pg. 34)
Casetabs. information@casetabs.com / casetabs.
com / (800) 990-7489 (pg. 49)
Cygnus Medical. cygnusmedical.com / (800) 990-
7489 (pg. 30)
Echelon. echenlonmedicalcapital.com / (888) 965-
6928 (pgs. 2)
Innovative Sterilization Technologies. iststeriliza-
tion.com / (937) 619-0138 (pg. 11)
Leiters. leiters.com (pg. 5)
Medline. asc@medline.com / (800) 633-5463 (pg.
3)
Modernizing Medicine. modmed.com/gi/asc
(pgs. 12-13)
National Medical. xxx.com / (xxx) xxx-xxx (pgs.
20-21,56)
Pacira Pharmaceuticals. reimbursement@pacira.
com / exparel.com/reimbursement / (855) 793-
9727 (pgs. 17-18)
Sony. pro.sony/cms (pgs. 2-24)
Stericycle. stericycle.com/reliability (pg. 32)
Vertiflex. vertiflex.com (pg. 7)
Zimmer Biomet. zimmerbiomet.com/surgical (pg.
55)
Baylor St. Luke's ordered to submit correction plan or
risk losing Medicare funding
By Kelly Gooch
S
tate regulators ordered Houston-based Baylor St. Luke's Medical
Center to address patient safety and care quality issues or risk
losing Medicare funding, according to letter cited by the Houston
Chronicle.
e Texas Department of Health and Human Services gave the hospi-
tal 10 days to submit a detailed correction plan to address several
violations regulators found, or risk losing Medicare funding, accord-
ing to the letter sent April 30.
Doug Lawson, St. Luke's president, told the Houston Chronicle he is
positive that the hospital will not lose federal funding.
"Clearly, this is a very significant situation that we take with the ut-
most seriousness," he said May 1. "We have already made significant
improvements across the hospital, and we are confident remaining
findings will be immediately addressed."
e issues at St. Luke's came up during an April investigation by
state and federal regulators, who said they found violations related
to infection control, quality assurance, patient rights, food services,
physical environment and board oversight, according to the Houston
Chronicle.
St. Luke's has had its hands full this year and in 2018 amid probes
that have cited issues at the hospital.
CMS cut off funding for the hospital's heart transplant program last
year aer a Houston Chronicle and ProPublica investigation found a
large number of patient deaths and unusual surgical complications
aer heart transplants in recent years.
e hospital saw several leaders depart aer the investigation.
In January, the hospital made three executive appointments aer the
resignations of St. Luke's President Gay Nord, Chief Nursing Officer
Jennifer Nitschmann, MSN, RN, and Senior Vice President of Opera-
tions David Berger, MD.
In February, the hospital pledged reforms aer aer a CMS inspec-
tion revealed staff made more than 100 mistakes in labeling blood
over a four-month period.
e April inspection was reportedly prompted by findings. n
