Facts About the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Survey of Contra Costa Regional Medical Center

The survey was performed in September 2006 and results were issued on December 15. Surveys are conducted regularly by CMS across the country.
CCRMC is also surveyed regularly by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and other organizations such at the California Department of Health Services and the American College of Surgeons' Commission on Cancer. The most recent surveys by these organizations have all been positive.
The CMS survey looked at all departments at CCRMC, including such departments as Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Emergency Department, Internal Medicine, Intensive Care and Outpatient Services.
The survey found concerns in three departments: Inpatient Psychiatry, Dietary (food services) and Pharmacy.
CCRMC has been working to improve quality and safety, redesigning many of the ways in which it delivers services. [CCRMC's Transformation Efforts (59k PDF, 2pp.)]
CCRMC has responded to the CMS survey, submitting a Plan of Correction on January 8. CMS' response is due by March 15.
Since CMS is the regulatory agency for the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs (and so also state Medi-Cal), if they say a hospital is out of compliance with their regulations, they can withhold or terminate funding. They routinely remind facilities of this possibility when they issue findings.

January 2007