Cherry Hospital

State Health Plan looking for overcharges

bniolet — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:03:17 -0400

* State Health Plan officials are auditing payments to 15 North Carolina hospitals after learning they had not notified the plan of rate changes going as far back as 2003.

The audit is to determine whether the hospitals overcharged for out- patient medical services. The plan had negotiated contracts with the hospitals that set rates for those services, and it required the hospitals to tell the plan if rates changed. If those rates had increased beyond the contract terms, the health plan, which is supported by taxpayers, may have overpaid hospitals for their services

"The really important matter," said Lacey Barnes, the State Health Plan's deputy executive administrator, "is if they didn't tell us and it resulted in an overpayment. And that's what we don't know." (N&O)

* State mental hospitals and homes for the developmentally disabled are eliminating 354 jobs including 75 layoffs in the wake of budget cuts enacted by Gov. Beverly Perdue and legislators earlier this month.

Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro, cited for chronic understaffing by federal regulators last year following the death of a neglected patient, is cutting 123 full-time positions. All but 31 of the positions being eliminated are vacant. (N&O)

* A paperwork logjam has prevented auto dealers from receiving reimbursements from the federal government under the Cash for Clunkers program, and many have had enough. Local dealers say the delay is causing a cash-flow crunch, and some are no longer participating — despite the fact that it brought people back to showrooms.(N&O)

Cansler visits Cherry

bkrueger — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:43:44 -0400

Lanier Cansler, head of the state Department of Health and Human Services, paid a visit to Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro this week to help boost the morale of the staff there.

The Goldsboro News-Argus reports that Cansler visited the troubled state psychiatric hospital on Wednesday, and told the staff that he wanted to raise morale and "recognize the positive efforts" going on there.

N.C. scores 'D' on mental health

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:25:33 -0400

North Carolina gets low grades for mental health.

The state needs to make its mental health system less complex, make its psychiatric hospitals safer, and promote practices shown to improve patients' conditions, said said Deby Dihoff, executive director of NAMI North Carolina.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness gave the state a "D" for its mental health care system in a report released Wednesday. "D" was the national average, Lynn Bonner reports.

"Nobody has it right," Dihoff said. "I do know that we can improve our grade."

The state needs housing for the mentally ill, peer support services and treatment for people who have both mental illnesses and substance abuse problems, Dihoff said.

The state has already reduced the money it expected to spend this year on mental health because of the fiscal crisis, said Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat. And more cuts are coming.

Dean Smith, a former Cherry Hospital patient who was beaten by hospital employees, said the hospitals don't have enough money and that state policies have "perpetuated a climate of abuse and neglect."

"The hospitals need staff trained to understand the symptoms of mental illness," said Smith, who was featured in The News & Observer series on the mental health system. "Then staff needs to be trained to respond in helpful, healing ways."

Insko said she expects improved hospital oversight because Lanier Cansler, the head of the state Department of Health and Human Services, is looking to reorganize the office that oversees state institutions and hire a professional hospital administrator to run it.

Perdue drops in on Cherry Hospital

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:14:00 -0500

Gov. Beverly Perdue made a surprise visit to the troubled state mental hospital in Goldsboro today.

During the campaign, Perdue promised surprise visits to state institutions. The state mental hospitals have repeatedly run into trouble with federal regulators, Lynn Bonner reports.

Cherry had its federal money taken away because inspectors determined the hospital was unsafe.

The hospital made national news in August when inspectors discovered hospital staff largely ignored a man who sat dying in a chair for nearly a day.

Cherry Hospital head to leave

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:31:30 -0500

The head of the troubled state mental hospital in Goldsboro will leave his post at the end of the year.

Cherry Hospital director Jack St. Clair will leave that job Dec. 31 and has been offered a transfer to the Black Mountain Neuro-Medical Treatment Center, Lynn Bonner reports.

Cherry Hospital has been the site of patient beatings and other alleged crimes committed by hospital employees. A few months ago, the federal government decided it would no longer pay for Medicaid patients' treatment at Cherry because it considered the hospital dangerous.

In April, hospital staff paid little attention to a 50-year-old patient for nearly a day as he sat dying in a chair.

The state hired an outside hospital management group in October to oversee Cherry operations.

An initial report from the management company faulted St.Clair and other top managers, but suggested they stay on the job.

Cherry Foundation denies news account

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:11:48 -0400

The president of The Cherry Foundation, a nonprofit charity affiliated with a state mental hospital in Goldsboro, sent out letters this week countering what she said were "misconceptions" created by a story in last Sunday's News & Observer.

The article detailed more than 100 trips taken by Cherry employees to medical conferences, as well as an annual symposium the hospital puts on at a Wrightsville Beach resort, Michael Biesecker reports.

Some of the expenses for employee travel and the beach retreat were paid by The Cherry Foundation, using more than $88,000 in grants from pharmaceutical companies who make psychiatric drugs commonly prescribed by the hospital's doctors.

In an e-mail to the newspaper, foundation President Stefanie Bostic challenged the assertion that money from the nonprofit paid for travel costs. A similar memorandum from Bostic was e-mailed to all Cherry employees from the office of hospital director Jack St. Clair.

Checks, federal tax returns, bank statements and audits show the travel expenses were drawn from foundation funds, however.

Document(s):
cherry-check.pdf

Cherry loses federal money

bkrueger — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:14:08 -0400

The federal government has revoked the certification of the state's troubled mental hospital in Goldsboro after determining that the facility presented a danger to its patients.

The decision means that Cherry Hospital will lose federal insurance payments averaging about $800,000 each month, reports Lynn Bonner.

Cherry drew national attention after a patient was left sitting in a chair for more than 22 hours without food while staff members in the room played cards and watched television. Nursing staff members did not follow a doctor's orders to regularly check Steven Sabock's vital signs and give him fluids. At least two hospital workers were caught falsifying Sabock's medical records. Sabock, 50, died of a heart condition April 29.

After being warned that it was in danger of losing its money, Cherry started a staff re-education program on proper patient care to show investigators that it was trying to solve its problems. While those classes were under way, two staff members were accused of beating a patient.

Dempsey Benton, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, argued in a letter to a federal administrator last week that Cherry should keep its federal insurance payments.

As part of its plan to improve Cherry, the state hired an Ohio management company to evaluate the hospital's operations and management.

Feds scrutinize Cherry Hospital

bniolet — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:05:32 -0400

RALEIGH - A large team of federal regulators arrived at Cherry Hospital on Tuesday to perform a top-to-bottom review of the state mental facility's operations and investigate new complaints of patient neglect and abuse at the Goldsboro hospital.

The group is expected to seek information on the beating of a patient by two hospital employees last week, as well as a previously undisclosed incident from December when a patient fell down a laundry chute.

The increased scrutiny could further imperil the hospital's ability to receive federal money, potentially costing North Carolina taxpayers millions in lost revenue.

The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services threatened this month to withdraw federal insurance reimbursements from the hospital after the April death of a patient who choked on his medication, hit his head and then was left sitting in a chair 22 hours while nearby staff played cards and watched television.

Federal officials have accepted a plan submitted by hospital administrators to address the multiple violations cited in a report last week. The surveyors now at the hospital, state employees working on behalf of the federal agency, are charged with making a recommendation by Sept. 1 as to whether Cherry's certification should be withdrawn. (N&O)

State to close Cherry ward

bniolet — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:44:44 -0400

The state is closing an adult admissions ward at Cherry Hospital, a state psychiatric hospital in Goldsboro, where a dying man was ignored by nursing staff.

In a statement today, the head of the state Department of Health and Human Services said the 16 staffers on duty at the time of the death have been removed from direct patient care duties and given other assignments for a period of at least 60 days, Lynn Bonner reports.

The employees will receive more training and re-education until the hospital director decides they are ready to resume caring for patients under the supervision of a training director, DHHS Secretary Dempsey Benton said.

Steven Sabock, 50, died at the mental hospital on April 29, after sitting in a chair for more than 22 hours without food or help using the bathroom. Hospital staff members were captured by security video playing cards and watching television in the room where Sabock sat.

"On behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services and myself personally, we deeply regret that Mr. Sabock died, and that it occurred while a patient at Cherry Hospital," Benton said. "The Department finds the circumstances related to this tragic death at Cherry Hospital completely unacceptable."

The closure reduces the admissions section from 90 beds to 67 in the three wards that will remain open. The total bed capacity of the hospital will drop from 274 to 251.

Christian to help fix Cherry Hospital

bkrueger — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:01:15 -0400

With yet another state mental hospital in danger of losing federal funding following a patient death, Dempsey Benton, head of the state Department of Health and Human Services, has tapped a familiar face to help fix the facility.

Patsy Christian, who was forced to resign in June as director of Central Regional Hospital in Butner after she commissioned a portrait of herself with money intended to benefit patients, was dispatched to Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro Tuesday following a critical report issued by regulators, reports Michael Biesecker.

Though an SBI investigation requested by Benton to determine whether Christian violated state purchasing laws is still unresolved, Benton said through a spokesman Wednesday that her 30 years as a nurse and hospital administrator qualified her to troubleshoot the problems at Cherry.

After she stepped down as director at Central, Benton created a new administrative position for Christian that kept her on the state payroll to “improve quality management and compliance with regulatory requirements.” Her salary is $114,056.