State health surveyors were at Wrangell Medical Center last week to conduct an annual recertification of the hospital.
A team of four Alaska State Department of Health and Social Services surveyors were onsite in Wrangell last week to conduct Wrangell Medical Center’s annual re-certification and State licensure surveys.
The surveys were conducted in the Long Term Care Center and the Critical Access portion of the hospital. These visits, which are unannounced standard surveys, are conducted annually to determine compliance with Federal Medicare/Medicaid and State Licensure participation requirements for skilled nursing facilities and hospitals.
According to former interim CEO Olinda White, who retired on Sept. 13, the surveys are a routine matter meant to recertify the hospital.
“It’s the annual review and audit,” White said. “Some of it isn’t every year, but is done between 9-15 months and sometimes it’s a three year program. So it’s a regular audit and nothing else.”
The Social Security Act mandates the establishment of minimum health and safety standards that must be met by providers and suppliers participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Providers include patient care institutions such as hospitals, critical access hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, and home health agencies. Wrangell Medical Center, as a critical access hospital is required to undergo state evaluation before recertification.
Suppliers are agencies for diagnosis and therapy rather than sustained patient care, such as laboratories, clinics, and ambulatory surgery centers.
Medicaid is a State program that provides medical services to clients of the State public assistance program and, at the State’s option, other needy individuals. When services are furnished through institutions that must be certified for Medicare, the institutional standards must be met for Medicaid as well.
State Survey Agencies carry out the Medicare certification process and is also authorized to set and enforce standards for Medicaid.
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