By Jim Kasuba
The News-Herald
Twitter: @JKasuba

WYANDOTTE — The public has been put on notice that as of April 28 Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital will no longer be part of the Medicare program, but hospital officials are confident the issue can be resolved and Medicare patients will not be affected.

The legal notice, published in Sunday’s editions of The News-Herald Newspapers, says the agreement with the hospital, 2333 Biddle Ave., and the secretary of U.S. Department Health and Human Services as a hospital in the Medicare program will be terminated.

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has determined that Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital is not in compliance with the following Medicare condition of participation for a hospital: 42 CFR 482.13 Patient Rights.”

The notice further says the Medicare program will not make payment for inpatient hospital services for patients admitted on or after April 28. However, for patients admitted prior to that date, payment may continue for up to 30 days of covered services provided on or after April 28.

Denise Brooks-Williams, president and CEO the hospital, said this issue stems from the family of a patient who filed a complaint with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“The complaint was related to a food and beverage issue that took place in January or February,” Brooks-Williams said. “We have taken steps to correct the issue.”

Brooks-Williams said the incident that brought about this complaint had to do with food or beverage temperature.

“It’s important to note that this was an isolated incident,” she said. “We followed up with the patient and put a corrective action plan in place.”

Dwight Angell, media relations director for the Henry Ford Health System, later clarified that the complaint putting Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital in jeopardy of losing its rights to bill for Medicare services involved an incident in which an elderly patient accidentally burned himself or herself with hot coffee.

Social media has been abuzz over the legal notice and what it could mean for Medicare patients who receive care at the hospital. Continued...

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According to Brooks-Williams, filing a complaint sets in motion a variety of subsequent steps. She said it’s her belief that the CMS was simply following protocol by publishing the notice.

As the CEO, Brooks-Williams received her own notification about a possible termination of the agreement between the hospital and the secretary of Health and Human Services.

“Normally, there is a window of time that we have to respond,” she said. “Because of the short timeframe, that window is within the next couple of days.”

Brooks-Williams said the hospital will put into writing its plan of action, spelling out the process that will assure the issue that spurred the complaint will not happen again.

She said she is hopeful the agency will accept the hospital’s plan and that there will be no interruption of services to Medicare patients.

Contact Jim Kasuba at 1-734-246-0881 or jimk@heritage.com. Follow him on Facebook and @JKasuba on Twitter.

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