Reservation Hospital to Lose Medicare, Medicaid Money

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A government-run hospital on South Dakota's Rosebud Indian Reservation where health inspectors found serious quality of care deficiencies in November will no longer be able to bill the government for services provided to Medicare- and Medicaid-eligible patients.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Tuesday notified the administration of the 35-bed hospital that the funding cutoff will be effective March 16. The move comes after inspectors visited the hospital again in February and found ongoing problems.

The federal Indian Health Service administers the hospital. The agency says it is asking CMS to give the hospital what constitutes a last chance by allowing it to enter into an agreement that would extend the proposed funding cutoff date and allow to hospital to make significant quality improvement changes.

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