The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General has issued a report that hospitals are not following a mandatory reporting requirement to inform CMS of patient deaths that occur as a result of using restraints or seclusion to manage behavior. Of the 104 such deaths that occurred between August 1999 and December 2004, 44 were not directly reported to CMS. And fewer than one-third of the deaths that were reported were timely. But many hospitals may not be aware of the requirement, because only 52% of state survey agencies had communicated the mandate to hospitals. The OIG report also found that state survey agencies and CMS’s regional offices failed to act quickly when notified of patient deaths.
The OIG recommends that CMS seek legislation to establish civil monetary penalties for hospitals that fail to meet the requirement in a timely way, that hospitals be required to also report deaths due to use of restraints for acute medical and surgical care to simplify the reporting requirement, that regional CMS offices and state survey agencies follow required timelines, and that hospitals be provided with information on the requirement. CMS concurred with the OIG’s recommendations.
