TOWNSHEND — Grace Cottage Hospital is working to meet Medicare requirements after the hospital learned from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in March that it had failed to maintain compliance.
The hospital announced this week that CMS made its determination after a patient's complaint in late February led to an inspection by the Vermont Department of Licensing and Protection.
Several deficiencies were identified during the inspection, and Grace Cottage Hospital staff immediately developed a Plan of Correction; the state accepted this plan in April and the changes are underway, according to the hospital.
The state will conduct a follow-up inspection by May 28, the hospital announced.
“The Public Notice listed by CMS in the Brattleboro Reformer [on May 12] is a required posting, made in case the surveyors are not satisfied with our implementation of the approved Plan of Correction,” said Grace Cottage Hospital CEO Roger Allbee.
Allbee said that Grace Cottage Hospital is known nationally for its high level of patient satisfaction and quality of care, and that it encourages input and feedback from its patients and the community.
“We're not the first hospital to go through this, and we won't be the last,” Allbee said. “We have been working cooperatively and thoroughly with the state and we expect that they will agree that we are now in full compliance. This is a welcome process that helps keep us at the top of safety and quality rankings, and we are confident that there will be no interruption in reimbursements or patient services.”
Founded in 1949, Grace Cottage, at 19 beds, is Vermont's smallest hospital. It is a federally designated Critical Access Hospital serving western Windham County.