For Release: IMMEDIATE
Date: September 24, 2007

Broughton Reorganization Announced

RALEIGH – Officials with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced a reorganization of Broughton Hospital. The reorganization stems from a departmental review of the hospital that occurred after the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) denied Medicare and Medicaid funding for Broughton patients.

“We cannot emphasize enough how seriously we take this matter as well as our expectations that the prescribed actions are immediately undertaken to resolve the identified deficiencies,” wrote DHHS Secretary Dempsey Benton and Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services Director Mike Moseley in a memo to Broughton director Seth Hunt.

The review, which was led by MH/DD/SAS Chief of Clinical Policy Dr. Michael Lancaster, found that clinical staff was not being supervised by clinical professionals. For instance, nursing staff did not report to the hospital’s director of nursing.

“The organization needs to be realigned, so that it is clear that the clinical team is supervised by professional staff that understands the role of clinical staff,” said Dr. Lancaster. “We need to set up an organizational structure that empowers and enhances physicians’ and nurses’ oversight and accountability functions for clinical services.”

Dr. Lancaster will lead a team of professionals who will direct the reorganization at Broughton. In addition to Dr. Lancaster, who is a psychiatrist, the three-member team will include nursing and administrative experts. The team will provide a weekly progress report to Benton and Moseley.

In addition to the reorganization, the hospital is also focusing on staff training around the issues of physical restraints and fall precautions. The two incidents that led to the CMS funding denial stemmed from an incident with a restraint and another with a fall. In the first incident, a patient died Feb. 1 while in restraint at the hospital. The second incident occurred on Aug. 19, when a patient, who was supposed to be under close supervision, fell. That patient has recovered. The funding denial was issued on Aug. 25.

It is anticipated that the reorganization will take about a month.  MH/DD/SAS then plans to conduct a mock CMS survey prior to asking CMS to return to Broughton to review the plan of correction.