RALEIGH -- Federal regulators have issued a new "immediate jeopardy" citation at Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro, putting the long-troubled state mental facility once again under threat of losing millions in federal health insurance reimbursements.
The citation was issued by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on Thursday after a teenaged patient escaped from the facility March 12 and was gone for 10 days before being returned by law enforcement officers, according to Renee McCoy, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services.
Those hospitalized at Cherry are deemed to be at imminent threat of harming themselves or others.
Federal regulators yanked the hospital's certification in September 2008 after an investigation into the death of patient Steven Sabock. The hospital's security cameras recorded video of Sabock choking on his medication, hitting his head on the floor and then being left slumped in a chair for nearly a day without food, water or medical attention. It's not clear how long he was dead before anyone noticed.
After Cherry's loss of federal funding, the state hired an Ohio consulting firm, the Compass Group, to evaluate the hospital. After a critical report from Compass, Cherry's director was demoted and moved to another state facility.
The Compass Group was then hired to effectively run Cherry and institute policies and procedures aimed at improving the hospital's operations. Among the tasks the consultants were supposed to accomplish was the retraining of Cherry's staff.
All told, the state paid Compass more than $1.5 million in consulting fees before Cherry regained its federal certification in 2009.
Under a new director last year, regulators cited the hospital again after staff members were videotaped using improper force and putting a pillow over a patient's face. In that case, the hospital was put on a plan for correction where the facility was allowed to continue receiving federal insurance reimbursements, worth about $800,000 a month.
Following the closure of Dorothea Dix Hospital to new patients last year, Cherry is one of three remaining state mental hospitals, serving patients from 38 Eastern North Carolina counties. It is licensed for 251 in-patient treatment beds.
