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For the Record 9/4/08

Posted on September 4, 2008September 11, 2008 by Staff

Outrage, anyone?

In case you’re confused about what exactly it means when the federal government withdraws Medicaid funding for a hospital or other health care institution, here’s the translation: It means the place isn’t safe.
Federal investigators have made that assessment and recommended no more federal funding after looking into allegations about Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro.

Let’s not get lost in the numbers, though. There’s a tendency of late to focus on the fiscal impact of the loss of federal funding. Yes, the state lost about a million per month in federal funding as a result of unsafe conditions at Broughton Hospital’s problems. And if the investigators recommendation is followed and Cherry looses its funding, the state would be out close to $800,000 per month.

But the money is just a symptom, in a way. It’s how the feds punish states and institutions not following the rules or cutting corners in a way that makes an institution unsafe.

That’s the fundamental problem here — not complicated federal rules, not a few violations — but a broken system that has put people in danger and led to loss of life.

At one time, the network of state psychiatric hospitals was supposed to be one of the positives of our mental health system; and the great failure, the collapse of the community-based systems. But closer scrutiny shows the state hospitals so understaffed and mired in inefficiencies that we now have on our hands twin crises in mental health — one close to home in the form of shattered community networks and one statewide as the cracks appear at one hospital after another.

We should be outraged over the fact that for more than a year now, we’ve lost federal support at a rate of $1 million a month. Most taxpayers would hit the roof if mistakes, poor planning and understaffing in a major road project resulted in delays and millions in additional costs due to lost federal funding. Likewise, it would spell the end of more than one career if a school had to turn away students because the administration’s errors cost it what was a long-running supply in federal dollars.

But as vexing as the fiscal issue is, it’s more important to realize that the consequences of the failures at our hospitals are devastating for hundreds of families and puts in harm’s way some of our most vulnerable citizens.
Even if it didn’t cost one dime of federal money, that is an outrage.

To the ready

Not long after we go to press early Thursday morning, rainbands from Hurricane Hanna — or what’s left of it — are expected to spread over this area.

More systems are making their way westward from the Cape Verdes. Like Hanna, some may reach us and, possibly, unlike Hanna, they may do so still packing a considerable punch. This is an active hurricane season and one in which sea surface temperatures, low wind shear and other variables seem to support strengthening. It’s also a year in which steering currents seem more favorable for East Coast hurricanes than during the past couple of years.

We urge all residents to get prepared. That includes having a family plan for what to do and where to go in the event of a hurricane and having a hurricane survival kit ready.

You can visit the National Hurricane Center website for advice on developing a family disaster plan and a putting together a supply kit: www.nhc.noaa.gov

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