PROVIDENCE – After issuing a preliminary denial to accredit the Eleanor Slater Hospital system, The Joint Commission has reaccredited the state-run hospital system, Gov. Daniel J. McKee said on Tuesday.
The news, announced at the governor’s weekly press briefing, follows efforts to fix longstanding problems with the physical and organizational structure as well as quality of care at the hospital system, which has campuses in Cranston and Burrillville.
The Joint Commission, a national nonprofit agency that accredits health care organizations nationwide, in June said it would deny accreditation, issuing a preliminary report that called out buildings in disrepair and poor management. Since then, the R.I. Office of Health and Human Services and The Hospital Association of Rhode Island and Care New England Health System have conducted their own reviews and summarized findings in separate reports, offering their own recommendations for how to overhaul the embattled health care system.
McKee on Tuesday credited state leaders, including R.I. Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals director Richard Charest for working to address “dozens” of the recommendations around building maintenance, organizational structure and patient care.
While the accreditation takes the heat off temporarily, McKee insisted the state will not be relaxing its efforts to “reset” the hospital system. Womazetta Jones, secretary of the R.I. Office of Health and Human Services who issued an initial report in June, is expected to offer further review and recommendations in the coming months.
The Joint Commission will also be returning in six to eight months for a follow-up, McKee said.
Also on Tuesday, McKee refused to confirm the legitimacy of reported extensions of the Oct. 1 deadline for state health care and nursing home workers to get vaccinated. Various news outlets reported earlier Tuesday on an internal state memo that gives workers at Eleanor Slater and the Veterans Home, a state-run nursing home, an extra 75 days to get vaccinated before potentially losing their jobs. During this time, they would be put on leave without pay.
McKee said on Tuesday suggested he was open to looking at whether a deadline extension “makes sense” but declined to comment further.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at LAvin@PBN.com.
