Becker's Hospital Review

37 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY Serious deficiencies uncovered at MD Anderson Cancer Center, CMS report reveals By Anuja Vaidya S erious patient care deficiencies, includ- ing three that constituted "immediate jeopardy," were discovered at MD An- derson Cancer Center in Houston, according to a Houston Chronicle report. CMS conducted an inspection at MD An- derson at the end of August 2019 aer a previously investigated patient death. It de- tailed its findings in a report made public in November 2019. e report showed CMS found deficiencies in nine of 23 areas surveyed, as well as two more deaths attributable to the deficiencies. ose deficiencies included lack of necessary equipment and linen sanitation practices, leaving medical records unsecured and fail- ing to properly clean and report chemothera- py spills during infusions. Three of the deficiencies constituted im- mediate jeopardy, which "is a situation in which a recipient of care has suffered or is likely to suffer serious injury, harm, im- pairment or death," according to CMS. Im- mediate jeopardy designation can affect a facility's CMS funding. CMS removed the immediate jeopardy desig- nation aer MD Anderson provided a correc- tive plan before CMS auditors conducting the inspection le the facility. CMS conducted a follow-up survey the week of Oct. 28, 2019, to assess improvements made at the facility. "Several steps remain, but CMS surveyors verbally shared with MD Anderson leader- ship that the institution has cleared all con- dition-level findings from the August hos- pital survey, and its deemed status will be reinstated," according to a statement from MD Anderson. n Everything you need to know about Seattle Children's mold issues By Gabrielle Masson T hree lawsuits were filed Dec. 2 against Seattle Children's Hospital related to longstanding mold issues in the facility's operating rooms, according to The Seattle Times. Here's everything you need to know about the mold issues: 1. Seattle Children's postponed and diverted surgeries in May 2019 after detecting Aspergillus mold in its operating rooms. A few weeks later, the hospital announced that one patient had died and five had been sickened by mold in the past two years. 2. The family of a teenage patient filed a lawsuit Oct. 25 against Seattle Children's, claiming a 2018 mold-related infection disabled their son, according to The Seattle Times. 3. Aspergillus was found again at Seattle Children's Nov. 10, sickening one patient, with other potential cases under investigation. 4. The system that circulates air through the hospital's operating rooms is thought to be the cause of 14 mold infections and six deaths dating back to 2001, Jeff Sperring, MD, Seattle Children's CEO, announced Nov. 18. The hospital is scheduled to install custom in-room high efficiency particulate air filters in 10 operating rooms and two equipment storage rooms by the end of January. 5. Former hospital employees said they discovered mold and dead birds in the air system as early as 2001. Seattle Chil- dren's carefully investigated each mold-related infection but the results were inconclusive until 2019, Lindsay Kurs, a hospital spokesperson, told The Seattle Times Nov. 25. 6. A lawsuit was filed Dec. 2 on behalf of four children, all of whom allegedly were sickened by the hospital mold between 2005 and 2017. Attorneys are seeking class-action status to eventually include all Seattle Children's patients sickened by the mold since 2000. The lawsuit claims hospital leaders engaged in years of "cover-up, designed to reassure its patients, doc- tors, nurses and the public that its premises were safe, when in fact they were not." 7. The family of an 11-year-old boy filed a separate lawsuit Dec. 2, claiming he contracted a mold-related infection during surgery at Seattle Children's in March and was not diagnosed until May. 8. Another lawsuit, also filed Dec. 2, alleges that a 4-year-old boy had to undergo a second brain surgery at Seattle-based Harborview Medical Center in May 2019 because physicians deemed him to be at "high risk for Aspergillus mold exposure" from the initial Seattle Children's surgery. 9. It is not known if the patients involved in the lawsuits are among the 14 cases Seattle Children's has disclosed. "We are in- credibly sorry for the hurt experienced by these families and regret that recent developments have caused additional grief," Kathryn Mueller, a spokesperson for Seattle Children's, told The Seattle Times. n

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