SUBMITTED BY DHHS
As has been previously made public, the transportation policy at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital has been strengthened to now require multiple medical staff and hospital administrator review and approval prior to granting out of state transportation for clients which require tickets purchased for transportation out of state. Furthermore, the transportation policy has been formalized and chaperones are now required to accompany each discharged client receiving transportation ticket assistance out of state.
Of the 1,473 unduplicated instances of clients receiving ticket purchased for out of state transportation, there are 10 instances where insufficient documentation makes it difficult to know for certain that staff confirmed there was a support system/family/friends/housing at the destination. This information indicates that more than 99 percent of the time staff followed the discharge policy and documentation was accurate and complete.
In the 10 cases identified, nine were admitted with substance abuse issues as their primary diagnosis and discharged directly from the Patient Observation Unit without the need for inpatient hospital admission.
Upon identifying these 10 cases, the following actions have occurred:
- There were 9 Rawson Neal medical staff responsible for discharge plans with insufficient documentation.
- Of the 9 medical staff, 4 are no longer employed with Rawson Neal Hospital.
- Of the remaining 5, 2 have been terminated and 3 will receive further disciplinary action as indicated.
Here is supplemental information to the news released today by the governor’s office:
- During a period of five years, 31,043 people were admitted to the Rawson Neal Psychiatric Observation Unit.
- Of the 31,043 individuals, 92% were Nevadan.
- Of the 31,043, we initially identified 1,508 instances of individuals who received tickets purchased for out of state travel.
After a review of each of the 1,508 instances, our findings show:
- There were duplicates in the initial number so the final total of individuals who received tickets purchased for out of state travel is 1,473.
In each of these cases we reviewed the following:
- Did staff follow the “Client Transfer Back to Home Communities” policy? (Current and previous policies are available upon request).
- What was this person’s diagnosis at the time of admit?
- What was this person’s diagnosis at the time of discharge?
- Was this person discharged from the Psychiatric Observation Unit or discharged from the inpatient services of Rawson Neal Hospital?
Regarding how much federal funding Rawson Neal Psychiatric Hospital receives – FY12 Actual Revenue from Medicare was $3,818,082; Revenue from General Fund was $32,522,017.
