Hershey Files Corrective Action Plan

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Officials of the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center have filed a detailed plan of correction to bring its kidney and liver transplant programs into compliance with federal regulations.
The Penn State University facility filed the plan in response to a May 6 report which found that Hershey did not comply with rules requiring an informed consent process and other rules relating to credentialing of staff and reporting of adverse events to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The abdominal transplant program was voluntarily placed in suspension in April, according to hospital officials.
The plan of correction calls for patients to be informed before surgery if the organs they are about to receive are classified as high risk or otherwise more likely to fail.
The May 6 report detailed several cases in which patients were not advised of the high risk category of the organ they were about to receive.
The corrective action plan calls for staff members of the transplant team to be re-educated on the correct consent requirements. It also calls for monitoring and auditing to assure future compliance.
Other elements pf the corrective action plan include informing CMS and the United Network for Organ Sharing of major staff changes, adverse events and the credentialing of member of the transplant teams. Contact:wfrochejr999@gmail.com