Joint statement from James E. Fanale, MD, president and CEO, Care New England, and Raymond O. Powrie, MD, FRCP(C), FACP, interim president, Kent Hospital, regarding Department of Health Consent Agreement:
Kent Hospital and Care New England (CNE) are firmly committed to addressing the issues put forward by the Rhode Island Department of Health today. There is no greater issue on which we focus than patient safety and quality of care.
We take the matters raised in these findings very seriously and, from the very beginning, self-reported all of these events to the RI Department of Health. We are grateful to the RI Department of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for their careful review, assessment, and guidance to enhance our own internal reviews. Specific to the findings highlighted in today’s agreement, Kent Hospital and Care New England have begun an active and aggressive improvement plan that is resulting in a complete and thorough review of our safety culture and practices, hospital-wide education, retraining, and recommitment to a level of excellence that will be unsurpassed. Much of this work and financial investment already began prior to the findings issued today and includes disciplinary action, policy and procedure review, competency assessment, auditing of compliance with policies and protocols, and prospectively maintaining a constant state of renewed diligence towards adherence and compliance.
The trust that the community and our patients place in us when they seek their care at Kent Hospital and across CNE is a great privilege and also a great responsibility. We believe we have a health care system devoted to providing tremendous outcomes for our patients who need a wide array of care. We continue to focus our attention on improving quality at all of our facilities which are considered to be leaders both in the industry and in the community.
We believe that each of the hospitals in Rhode Island are dedicated to providing the absolute best care for our citizens. Clearly, based on our own experience and the findings of the Department of Health, we still have more work to do. We want to assure the people of our region that we are committed to this work and to move forward quickly on this journey to excellence that is increasingly the major focus across the health care landscape locally and nationally. It is the single most important thing we can do for those who trust us with their care.
Kent Hospital, a Care New England Hospital, is a 359-bed, acute care hospital. It is Rhode Island’s second largest hospital, serving approximately 300,000 residents of central Rhode Island.
A teaching affiliate of The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, Kent offers programs in Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and an Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Fellowship. Kent’s redesigned Emergency Department (ED) sees approximately 70,000 patients a year and ranks Kent’s ED volume among the top 10-percent nationally. It was the first hospital in the state to eliminate the practice of ambulance diversion.