Well, the threat by CMS to block future payments to Vanderbilt for serious errors was short-lived.
As Becker’s reported on Friday,
CMS published a notice Nov. 21 threatening to terminate Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Medicare provider agreement Dec. 9, stating the hospital was not in compliance with conditions of participation in the program. On Nov. 29, CMS said it accepted VUMC’s plan of correction, and the hospital is not at risk of losing its Medicare contract.
Our concern here is not so much that Vandy avoided being out of compliance; the hospital may very well have corrected the errors, but what is the message this sends to other healthcare providers who work hard all the time to assure they are compliant? And what is the message to patients and their families?
We find it troubling.