Dr. Yessian asked. Those are things that external reviewers can unearth. But they have to go beyond looking to see just if there's a system in place, to see how it's applied. That's a more challenging mind-set. The report noted that state agencies charged with this task are underfunded and primarily respond to complaints.
Routine surveys are rare.
And some rural hospitals had gone uninspected as long as eight years. The IG also pointed the finger at the Health Care Financing Administration for inadequate oversight of both arms of this external review process. It called on the agency to hold them accountable and to make performance data on both hospitals and the reviewers more publicly accessible. Corrective actions outlined HCFA embraced the report's recommendations. HCFA chief Nancy-Ann DeParle emphasized that the agency had no intention of abandoning a regulatory approach to hospital oversight in exchange for a collegial one.