Medicare cuts payments to Oklahoma City surgery center
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The sterilizers, used to clean instruments for surgery, were in a hall where they could be contaminated, and the electrical system was arranged in a way that it might not provide enough back-up for important equipment if the facility lost power while patients were on the operating table, according to an inspection report dated
The center already has moved the sterilizers and expects to have the electrical work done within a week, said
CMS controls payments to doctors, hospitals and other facilities through Medicare and Medicaid. Facilities that lost their certification still could treat those patients, but wouldn't get paid for it. Decertification doesn't affect payments from private insurance.
Some facilities that rely heavily on Medicaid, like nursing homes, close after losing payments. Others have enough privately insured patients to keep going until they can address CMS' concerns and qualify for federal payments again.
The center isn't taking Medicare patients at the moment, because it can't get paid for them, but almost all doctors who work at ESEC also perform surgeries at other facilities, Seals said. She doesn't know of anyone who isn't getting a needed procedure because of CMS' decision.
Once the electrical work is done, an inspector from the
Seals said state inspectors didn't have a problem with the set-up when the facility opened in 2005, and noted the
In a written timeline of the negotiations with the
"The way that the facility is now is the way that it was approved by the state 14 years ago," Seals said. "This is in no way a patient safety matter."
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