The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services arrived on St. Croix and will be inspecting the Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital for the next five days, according to a statement from the hospital.
"We are in no way surprised by CMS’ arrival as everyone at JFL and many in this community have anticipated their arrival for some time," interim Chief Executive Officer Kendall Griffith said in a statement.
"I am confident in the work we have done over the past year to prepare for this visit and we look forward to providing the inspection team with everything necessary to effectively do their job," Griffith said.
Griffith said he and his executive team met with CMS on Monday to discuss how the delegation will conduct its survey of the hospital.
The three-member delegation began their inspection of the hospital Monday morning and they were expecting a fourth member to arrive Tuesday.
The hospital is working to meet eight areas of improvement imposed by CMS as conditions for Medicare and Medicaid participation.
In addition to concerns about CMS compliance and quality control, the cash-strapped hospital is struggling to make basic expenses like payroll and there is an ongoing dispute among management that has led to the resignations of several members of the hospital governing board, the termination of Facilities Director Peter Abraham, and the more recent termination of the entire financial department, all at Griffith’s behest. (See related links below)