Fort Bayard facility earns key certification

Sue Major Holmes | The Associated Press

9/5/2008 -

ALBUQUERQUE — Fort Bayard Medical Center's long-term care facility has won Medicaid certification, putting the facility in southwestern New Mexico back in compliance with state and federal regulations, a state health official said Thursday.

The New Mexico Department of Health, to give Fort Bayard a fresh start, voluntarily gave up Medicare and Medicaid certification in February, then reapplied for new Medicaid certification in March. The Health Department has spent about $1.5 million a month covering costs for Medicaid residents in the meantime.

Medicaid certification means that "now we have a revenue source, that we are no longer relying on state funds to run this facility," said Katrina Hotrum, deputy secretary of facilities for the Health Department, who joined state lawmakers and other agency officials in a ceremony at Fort Bayard marking recertification.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently declared Fort Bayard recertified, dating back to June 26, the last time it inspected the hospital.

"We're pleased we're back on the right track," Hotrum said in a telephone interview.

The hospital, which has 118 residents, is a safety net for low-income people who have no other place to go. It serves people who need long-term care for everything from traumatic brain injury to the fragile elderly or people with Alzheimer's.

To regain certification, the Health Department said it hired long-term care experts; evaluated and improved training for infection control, care planning and reporting abuse, neglect and exploitation; and created positions that oversee long-term care for all the department's facilities.

The agency has been actively seeking new admissions at Fort Bayard over the past two months in anticipation of recertification, Hotrum said.

The next step is to regain Fort Bayard's Medicare certification, which would allow it to offer rehabilitation-type services, such as for broken hips, she said.

Hotrum said the department expects to apply for the certification at the end of the month. Medicare certification will require another survey for the facility.

"We have to be survey-ready because they can come out at any time," she said.

Hotrum and state Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil praised the staff at Fort Bayard and the department's Facilities Division.

The staff "was eager to learn about new processes and how to implement things correctly," Hotrum said.

A federal inspection in January found serious problems in infection control, food preparation and knowing how or when to appropriately report potential abuse or exploitation, department officials have said. That inspection followed previous reports of problems.

Federal inspectors who toured the hospital and reviewed documents in July and October of 2005 cited inadequate medical care and nutritional services, dangerous use of mood-altering medications, failure to ensure residents' safety, and incidents of violence, both patient-on-patient and patient-on-nurse.

The state cited Fort Bayard in December 2004 for maintenance, staff training and administration failings. The hospital administrator was placed on leave in early 2005 and fired in August 2005.