Deficiencies that threatened the eligibility of Northlake Behavioral Health System to remain part of the federal Medicare program have been corrected and a team of state health department overseers has remained on the campus of the Mandeville area psychiatric facility to closely monitor the services it provides, according to the Department of Health and Hospitals. Formerly the Southeast Louisiana...
Deficiencies that threatened the eligibility of Northlake Behavioral Health System to remain part of the federal Medicare program have been corrected and a team of state health department overseers has remained on the campus of the Mandeville area psychiatric facility to closely monitor the services it provides, according to the Department of Health and Hospitals. Formerly the Southeast Louisiana Hospital, the mental health facility was privatized in January when a Florida company assumed control after a bitter fight to keep the facility under control of the state.
In a June 3 letter, the hospital was warned by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that administers the Medicare program, that it was not meeting requirements for participating in the insurance program. The hospital was given until July 3 to correct the problems.
The CMS report listed complaints such as improper response to patient concerns, improper record maintenance and a need for more staffing in certain areas. The CMS reported that the deficiencies did not constitute an immediate threat to the health and safety of patients, but were "determined to be of such a serious nature as to substantially limit your hospital's capacity to render adequate care and prevent it from being in compliance with all the conditions of (Medicare) participation for hospitals." The facility was told, in essence, it could lose its Medicare eligibility if the problems were not addressed.
Bob Moos, public affairs specialist for CMS, said a state team inspected the facility on July 18 to see if the deficiencies had been corrected. He said Tuesday that inspectors were still writing the report that will be turned over to the federal agency.
DHH Communications Director Christina Stephens said the concerns of the federal agency have been addressed.
"The facility received a letter from CMS that cited deficiencies," Stephens said. "The management of the facility has since corrected the deficiencies and provided responses to CMS, which were accepted as compliant."
Stephens said a monitoring team from the state's Office of Behavioral Health, which consists of five DHH staff members, maintains a presence at the facility just east of Mandeville five days a week. Team members monitor the 24-hour daily nursing reports and discuss concerns with the hospital's management, she said.
Concerns ranging from staffing ratios to incidents involving individual patients or staff members are discussed, she said.
"The team reviews findings at the end of each day and also attends meetings, works with staff members to identify concerns, tours units and observes and reports any activity that is out of the ordinary," Stephens said. "Any identified issues are taken back to the Northlake administration for discussion and corrective measures."
Facing reductions in federal money, DHH announced in July in 2012 that it would close SELH, triggering a strong backlash from hospital supporters.
Rita Breath holds sign reading "Save SELH" along during a rally on Highway 190 outside Southeast Louisiana Hospital in October of 2012. (Photo by Ted Jackson, nola.com / The Times-Picayune)
Local legislators began a push for privatization as a way of saving some of the services and jobs provided by the hospital. Hospital supporters, meanwhile, said they favored keeping the hospital in public hands and viewed privatization as a less desirable alternative. They feared private companies might be more concerned with profits than with the needs of the patients.
In an agreement reached late last year, SELH was converted from a state-run mental health care hospital to a privately-managed property with oversight from DHH. The state gave St. Tammany Parish the authority to manage all property at the Southeast campus and signed a separate agreement to allow Meridian Behavioral Healthcare of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to operate 58 psychiatric inpatient beds: 42 for youths and 16 for adults.
While Meridian rehired many of the staffers who worked at the facility when it was under state control, some SELA employees lost their jobs. An organization called Committee To Save Southeast Louisiana Hospital, which held rallies last year to stave off the closing of the facility, continues to meet as a support group for those who lost jobs and as a watchdog for the mental health hospital.
Brad Ott, a member of the committee, said as the group rallied against the closure and the privatization of the facility last year, it expressed fears that private companies might be more concerned with profits than with the needs of the patients. The group held dozens of rallies and public hearings in its quest to keep SELA operating as a state-run mental hospital, as it had been for the previous 60 years. Ott said the CMS legitimized the committee's concerns when it noted the deficiencies at Northlake.
"This is something we warned might happen," Ott said. "We remain concerned about what is happening there and we plan to continue to collect information."
Ott said the group will hold a meeting at 3 p.m. Saturday at Mandeville City Hall to discuss the CMS issue.