A hospital in North Carolina was able to avert further delays in getting recertified for Medicare reimbursement, which in part stemmed from a missing sprinkler system tamper device.

 

Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde, NC, lost its Medicare funding in February after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) cited a variety of alleged medical and quality deficiencies, reported The Mountaineer newspaper of Waynesville, NC.

 

CMS mandated the tamper device be installed prior to Medicare recertification. The hospital’s sprinkler system uses parts manufactured in 1979, so it took a while to find an appropriate tamper device. The part ended up costing about $17,000, the hospital’s interim CEO told The Mountaineer.