Federal regulators clear Oregon State Hospital from immediate jeopardy status once again

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon State Hospital is no longer in immediate jeopardy status after updating its procedures for patient viability checks.

The Oregon Health Authority announced that OSH had been cleared by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Tuesday afternoon.

Federal authorities initially placed the psychiatric hospital in immediate jeopardy status last month, in response to findings that employees had failed to check on patients’ whereabouts and wellness hourly.

OSH Interim Superintendent and Chief Medical Officer Sara Walker said patients considered the viability checks to be “disruptive of their sleep.”

“We hope to find a technology solution that will be less intrusive,” Walker added in a statement in early June. “It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of our patients day and night.”

Since then, the hospital has implemented an administrative directive with new procedures for conducting and recording the hourly checks.

Oregon health officials said CMS is still actively surveying the facility in connection to a patient who unexpectedly died in May. The agency is expected to issue an official statement of deficiencies in the near future.

Federal regulators most recently released a deficiency statement on the hospital in late April, after another review led to OSH’s placement in immediate jeopardy status — which could have resulted in it losing its eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid funding.

Officials found that the hospital neglected to protect patients from physical aggression and sexual assaults perpetrated by other patients.

CMS also placed the facility in immediate jeopardy status in mid-September 2023. Just a couple of weeks before, a patient who was in custody for attempted aggravated murder — and deemed “extremely dangerous” — escaped from the Salem hospital.

He was later found stuck in a muddy pond near the Portland Expo Center.

As a result, regulators ordered OSH to further security on its medical transport vehicles.