According to a report issued by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), only 55 percent of physician-owned specialty hospitals had emergency departments and 7 percent didn’t meet Medicare requirements that an RN be present at all times or that a doctor be on call if none are present on site. (Kaiser Network)
The OIG concluded that physician-owned specialty hospitals are “poorly equipped” to handle emergency care. Molly Sandvig, executive director of Physician Hospitals of America (PHA), disagreed with the report.
According to a PHA press release, Sandvig said the study is limited “because it does not address the most significant issues: Was there any impact on the quality of patient care as a consequence of the IG’s findings? And how do these findings compare to the practices of comparable general hospitals?”
