The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, a federal agency within the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, has concluded an investigation into patient care violations at Sutter Solano Medical Center that pose an “immediate and serious threat to the health and safety of patients.”
The violations, which are related to grave shortcomings in the hospital’s anesthesia dept., must be corrected by Tuesday or the agency could terminate Sutter Solano’s Medicare and Medicaid funding, which make up a significant portion of the hospital’s revenue. The agency stated that pharmaceutical services are also “out of compliance”. Federal officials said such action is highly unusual and only taken in the most dangerous and extreme situations.
Frontline health care workers at Sutter Solano have been alarmed at the reaction by the hospital administration, which is designed to hide the investigation from patients and the public and to silence caregivers. Since the federal agency’s announcement, the CEO has held employee forums at which she has accused caregivers of leaking information to the press and implied that cooperating with investigators was strongly discouraged. This morning, an administrator was seen removing all the copies of the Times Herald, a Vallejo newspaper which had a front page article about the investigation, from the vending machine in front of the hospital.