After De-Certification, Western State Gets New Oversight Plan

LAKEWOOD, WA - Following the failure of the hospital to meet federal standards last month, Western State Hospital has been given a new oversight plan to improve conditions inside the facility.

On June 25, state health officials revealed that Western State had failed a federal survey, causing the hospital to lose about $53 million in Medicare and Medicaid funds. The federal surveyors said the hospital has made progress in improving conditions, but not enough to meet federal standards.

A recent Associated Press report revealed poor conditions inside the facility. The report described overworked staff, filthy conditions, and punishment for workers who speak out.

"Despite a shakeup in leadership and vows to correct problems, the hospital continually puts patients at risk, according to a surprise federal inspection last month. Some didn't get oxygen and blood-sugar checks; injuries weren't properly treated; they were held in restraints too long; and the building remained a fire hazard. Some violations were cited in inspections going back to 2015," the AP wrote.

Meanwhile, Gov. Jay Inslee has proposed a plan to transfer a large share of Western State patients into community care facilities. Under that model, low-risk patients would get care in facilities close to home, and Western State would focus resources on higher-risk patients.

The state Department of Social and Health Services released the following plan on Monday to improve Western State in the meantime:

• Governing Body is expanding to include representation outside of the DSHS Behavioral Health Administration and may include external agencies.
• Residential Care Services (RCS) will supervise investigation of reports alleging abuse (including sexual abuse), neglect and financial exploitation. As necessary, RCS will adopt emergency rules containing mandatory reporting requirements.
• RCS will sample all [Western State] Administrative Reports of incidents for fidelity to required RCS mandatory reporting requirements. The finding of this sampling will be reported to external monitors.
• Other reporting to the Washington State Department of health related to individual practitioner’s findings, Board of Pharmacy and food continues as before.
• External monitoring to a CMS standard of care and continues quality improvement in patient care: DSHS will contract with Clinical Services Management, LLC to monitor adherence to CMS standard through survey and auditing of Western State Hospital.

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