Santa Clara County’s main hospital back in compliance following violations

After state regulators found numerous violations last fall at Santa Clara County’s hospital system, the county is back in compliance — ensuring it’ll receive crucial Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

The county’s healthcare system, which is the second largest county-owned healthcare and hospital system in the state, is comprised of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, O’Connor Hospital, St. Louise Regional Hospital and a network of other clinics.

Last fall, a state investigation at the county system’s main hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, found numerous care definicies.

The county subsequently submitted a 55-page correction plan to state and federal regulators, which included the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS. On Feb. 24, 2023, the California Department of Public Health, which conducted the review on behalf of CMS, completed its revisit survey and deemed the hospital was once again in compliance.

“We appreciate the time and efforts of CDPH and CMS to review and approve our Plan of Correction and to affirm our compliance with the CMS Conditions of Participation,” Paul E. Lorenz, chief executive officer for Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, said in a statement.

In two instances last year, the state found the hospital didn’t follow its policies on managing suicidal patients. In May, a suicidal patient escaped from the emergency room and jumped from the third floor of a parking garage and onto a tree. The individual sustained severe injuries that required complex facial repair. The patient was supposed to be supervised but was left unattended.

Several months later in August, a suicidal patient threw a chair through a fourth-floor window, jumped and was killed. Policy dictated that the hospital was not supposed to have any objects in the room that could be picked up and thrown.

The investigation also found that the hospital didn’t maintain its emergency power supply and didn’t conduct regular testing on at least one generator’s batteries.

If state and federal regulators didn’t accept the corrections, Medicare reimbursements would have ended for patients admitted to the hospital after April 25. Santa Clara Vally Medical treats many uninsured and underinsured patients, according to the county.

County Executive Jeff Smith told the Mercury News that they are “very serious” about evaluations conducted by state and federal regulators.

“We rapidly move to deal with them and to correct any compliance problems that we have and I’m really proud of our team who moved ahead rapidly and got all the work done that needs to be done,” he said. “It’s not good that we ended up in this situation, but I’m glad that we got it fixed.”