Federal regulators threaten Tampa General

TAMPA -- Federal regulators have threatened to stop Medicare funding to Tampa General Hospital because of serious safety problems in its psychiatric unit.

In an investigation prompted by two recent suicides of the hospital's psychiatric patients, regulators found psychiatric patients to be in "immediate jeopardy" at the hospital. The hospital has until Sept. 6 to fix the problems or lose funding, said the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Tampa General already is working to fix the problems, said Ron Hytoff, the hospital's president and CEO, in a statement.

"I am saddened, embarrassed and concerned reading the surveyor's observations about our psychiatric unit," Hytoff said.

The hospital is changing the procedures cited by CMS, increasing how often patients are observed and making physical changes to the unit, Hytoff said. The hospital released the statement and the 44-page CMS report Thursday.

"All of the employees, physicians and volunteers understand that the community must have absolute trust in the operation of our psychiatric unit," Hytoff said. "Restoration of that trust is our No. 1 goal."

When safety problems occur at a hospital, CMS investigates and can threaten to end its agreement to have the hospital treat Medicare patients. That threat rarely is carried out, but generally prompts immediate action by the hospital.

This is the first time in at least a decade that Tampa General has been threatened with losing CMS funding. In recent years in the Tampa Bay area, CMS has threatened to remove funding from Brandon Regional Hospital and Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg. Both hospitals resolved problems without losing funds.

On July 21, a 44-year-old woman hanged herself using a bedsheet tied to a closet door in Tampa General's psychiatric unit between 15-minute security checks. On July 23, a 28-year-old man was found hanging from a sheet tied to a door in the unit.

-- Lisa Greene, Times staff writer