Hershey Transplant Woes Deepen

By Walter F. Roche Jr

There have been even more key departures from the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center's troubled transplant program and hospital officials failed to promptly report those vacancies to federal regulators as required.
In a four-page report made public this week, officials of the state Health Department said Hershey administrators finally reported the departures to federal officials only after the state surveyors questioned facility officials in August about vacancies dating back to April.
The reports comes after Hershey was forced to shutdown indefinitely the abdominal transplant program as a result of a highly critical state Health Department report.
The departures cited in the report include the abdominal transplant manager who departed on April 11, a transplant coordinator who left on May 20 and a primary liver transplant surgeon who left April 6.
The report notes that Hershey was required to report immediately to federal officials any significant changes in the transplant programs.
The transplant program resignations were followed by the abrupt resignation of the medical center's president Deborah Berini on Aug. 29. No reason was given for her departure.
During the Aug. 10 revisit state health officials requested that Hershey submit a detailed list of any departures that could affect the quality of the transplant program. The report was submitted on Aug. 18 and health officials returned to Hershey on Aug. 29 to review and verify the information.
According to the report Hershey failed to notify the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the abdominal transplant manager's departue until till Aug. 17 and the liver transplant surgeon's departure until May 10.
Hershey also failed to report as required the departure to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Nor were the departures noted in the Plan of Correction Hershey submitted in response to the original critical Health Department report.
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