The University Medical Center's psychiatric unit received a report yesterday addressing an unannounced complaint investigation that took place Aug. 8-10.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigated the Medical Center after an alleged incident in July in which a female patient and male patient injected heroin in her hospital room's bathroom and had sex in a hospital laundry room.
The report, written by a CMS investigator, states that "the University of Virginia Medical Center does not have a policy and procedure in place to protect patients from unwanted visitors or to curtail contraband materials."
Medical Center spokeswoman Marguerite Beck said the Medical Center is planning actions in response to the matter.
"The Medical Center is developing a plan to correct [the policies], and will be submitting that to CMS in the required 10 days," Beck said.
The details of the correction plan, however, cannot be released until the plan is submitted to CMS.
The report states that a day after the male patient, "Patient #1," checked in to the psychiatric unit, "a phone call from an acquaintance of Patient #1 was received by nursing staff stating that Patient #1 asked his girlfriend to bring him heroin and that he had needles in his possession."
The male patient allegedly succeeded in having a visitor bring him contraband drugs. Another patient, a female, reported to police that "Patient #1" then gave her "half a bag" of heroin and a syringe.
Soon after the incident was reported to police, Leonard Sandridge, University executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the Medical Center "strengthened our policies and procedures to minimize the likelihood of a similar incident occurring again."
Medical Center Chief Clinical Officer Pamela Cipriano said the hospital has worked to solve many of the problems that were raised in the report since the summer.
"This [incident] happened in July and we have been on a steady course of improvement. We have changed a number of policies, and we have educated the staff about the changes," Cipriano said.
Although guest visitation polices were in place at the time of the incident, "the other reality is that people who are involved in substance abuse often are masterful at hiding contraband," she said.
CMS also conducted an investigation at the Medical Center's psychiatric unit from June 18 to July 6 after allegations that a Medical Center employee sexually assaulted three female patients in the psychiatric unit.
Then, later in July, the hospital received another notice from the CMS. This time the medical center was placed on "immediate jeopardy" status following a CMS visit in early June.
In response to the recent chain of events, additional cameras have been added in the psychiatric unit to help monitor patients.
"The bottom line is the most important concern is patient safety and quality care," Beck said.
Sandridge agreed with Beck in seeking ways to improve the way in which the hospital conducts its daily affairs.
"When opportunities to improve our operations are identified, we move promptly to address them," he said.
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