CMS in July threatened to strip GMH of its Medicare provider certification after a May survey revealed that Guam’s only civilian hospital is in violation of numerous Life Safety Code requirements.
While most of the violations cited relate to building and maintenance requirements, a separate survey by CMS also presents several violations relative to patient safety.
CMS in August agreed to grant GMH a temporary waiver until Dec. 30, without which the hospital could lose $51 million in annual Medicare reimbursements — funds the hospital cannot afford to lose.
During the course of the past few months and several GMHA Board of Trustees meetings, GMHA interim administrator Rey Vega repeatedly assured board members and the public that the hospital is on track to meet the CMS deadline.
One of the major issues CMS cited GMH for is the replacement of 30 hospital doors. While the hospital hit a few snags along the way with the vendor and shipment of the doors, Vega said the installation of the doors, which was scheduled to arrive Dec. 15, is the hospital’s priority.
Although it is not known whether the CMS survey paved the way for an unannounced Joint Commission (JC) survey in September, the result of the JC survey only delivered more unpleasant news for the hospital.
Vega told senators during a roundtable discussion in November that JC will likely cite GMH for a number of deficiencies as well. Sure enough, in the first week of December, JC announced that it had downgraded GMH’s accreditation from full accreditation to “accreditation with follow-up survey.”
