(WKBN) — An inspector paid a visit to Steward Health Care System’s three Valley locations in August as part of ongoing court proceedings regarding the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and recently released the report of her findings.
The report was conducted by patient care ombudsperson Suzanne Koenig and filed Sept. 20 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, where Steward Health is based. Another visit was made in June .
Local Steward Health locations include Trumbull Regional Medical Center in Warren, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland and Sharon Regional Medical Center.
Insight Health Solutions was named the designated operator of the two Trumbull County hospitals on Friday.
Good faith negotiations are expected for the sale of Sharon Regional to Meadville Medical Center (MMC) or another party determined by the Commonwealth.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Michel Henry announced last month MMC wanted to buy Sharon Regional, and a letter of intent was filed with the bankruptcy court on Aug. 16. At that time, Steward said they needed $1.5 million from the Commonwealth to keep the hospital open or it would close. Henry petitioned the Court for more time and it was granted.
The filing also stipulates that if the MMC deal doesn’t go through and there is not another buyer lined up by Dec. 1, Steward can close the hospital.
Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital
The hospital is accredited through the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), whose main purpose is to evaluate a rehab facility’s ability to meet certain standards that factor into higher success rates for patients — the report notes these standards are very strict.
The hospital is comprised of one inpatient unit, three gym areas (two inpatient, one
outpatient), and two outpatient rehab facilities in Austintown and Cortland. It has a dietary department, a pharmacy, a case management department, central supply and laundry. It also has a special unit designated to care for forensic patients who are incarcerated at a local jail. Trumbull Regional Medical Center also rents a space in the hospital and operates a sleep lab.
The report states a cooling tower malfunctioned at the facility on August 8. On that date, the staff at Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital noticed the cooling tower had failed, causing certain areas in the building to become increasingly warm. Koenig was informed of this situation on Aug. 11.
Based on discussions with Hillside, patient care areas impacted by the cooling tower failure were Centers 1 and 2. All patients were immediately relocated from Centers 1 and 2 to Center 3, which was unaffected. Other areas impacted by the cooling tower failure included case management, the sleep lab, the kitchen department, laboratory services and the pharmacy. Sleep lab cases were canceled until the situation was resolved, and there were no patient complaints.
On Aug. 12, rental gear was en route to provide cooling to the affected areas at Hillside, and they planned to immediately begin the installation process to switch the cooling system to the rental equipment once the rental gear arrived. The next day, a rental chiller was onsite, and installation was completed on Aug. 14.
Koenig returned to Hillside on Aug. 13 and reviewed the kitchen, Centers 1-3, the pharmacy, and the central supply department.
New thermometers for the kitchen had been purchased so accurate temperatures could be maintained. The dietary manager informed Koenig they are no longer using the hot box to maintain food temperatures as it was not functioning and required repair. The steamer, oven and roasters were used instead to maintain proper temperature readings for the food. The kitchen was also noticeably cleaner than it was at the Koenig’s prior visit.
The refrigerator inspection showed most items were dated and covered, except the
food preparation for dinner did not have dates. The freezer rental unit continues to be located outdoors.
The compounding room in the pharmacy is currently not in use because the sleeves for the gloves are no longer attainable and the filter for the compounded is the incorrect size. Any medication needing to be compounded is obtained from Trumbull Regional Medical Center.
Trumbull Regional Medical Center
The hospital’s departments consist of an ED, two ICUs, two med-surg departments, two
adult behavioral health departments, an operating room, a pre-op/post-op unit, a gastro-intestinal lab, a cath lab and various offsite ambulatory departments (such as medical offices, urgent care, wound center and a sleep center).
In Koenig’s visit on Aug. 14, the emergency department, intensive care unit, adult mental health unit, geriatric mental health unit, medical-surgical/telemetry (4-East and 6-East), and kitchen departments were toured.
According to the staff, the volume has decreased to about forty to sixty visits per day in the emergency department.
Staff reported no issues with supplies and staffing.
The kitchen equipment that was previously reported as nonfunctioning continues to be broken. However, the staff remains able to work around the equipment issues and provide quality food service to the patients.
ICU RNs are in a patient-to-RN ratio of one to two patients per RN, depending on acuity. Medical-surgical/telemetry was staffed by one RN per five patients. The emergency department was similarly staffed at one RN per four to five patients, depending on acuity
Sharon Regional Medical Center
The hospital’s departments consist of an emergency department, an ICU, a cardiac intensive care unit, two med-surg departments, an adult and a pediatric behavioral health department, an OR, a pre-op/PACU, a gastrointestinal lab and a cath lab.
A March inspection by the Pennsylvania Department of Health showed Sharon Regional Medical System (SRMC) was not in compliance with several safety requirements. At the time, Steward said it was working to correct the issues and expected to address them all by June 4.
The leadership team explained to Koenig the census is down due to the loss of physician practices serving SRMC, the negative publicity about a potential closure and the debtors. They said they lost several surgeons over the past few weeks.
On the day of the visit, the census was 51 total patients, including 36 inpatients and 15 behavioral health patients. The inpatient census is lower than it was at Koenig’s prior visit.
According to the leadership team, since the last visit, two elevators have remained non-functioning (one patient elevator and one service elevator) and a 300-ton chiller has been purchased, which is awaiting installation.
On Aug. 13, the breast biopsy machine potentially malfunctioned and was immediately taken out of service. The maintenance department notified the vendor, who immediately arrived onsite. Upon examination, the vendor determined that the biopsy machine had falsely alarmed.
View the full report in the document below:
Steward-Health-Inspection-Updates Download Steward operates, or once operated, more than 30 hospitals across Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Massachusetts.
Laurel Stone and Patty Coller contributed to this report.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKBN.com.
Local News
