The former director of quality management and patient safety at Washington, D.C.-based United Medical Center resigned in July after seven months on the job, claiming Veritas — the consulting firm operating the hospital — allegedly undermined her efforts to promote clinical quality and patient safety at UMC, according to a report from The Washington Post.
Here are five things to know.
1. UMC — the District of Columbia's only public hospital — has come under scrutiny in recent months among reports of potential care protocol breaches linked to a patient death and a 90-day obstetrics ward shutdown order by regulators in August, among other issues.
2. On Monday, David Boucrée, the interim hospital CEO and a Veritas employee, testified before the D.C. Council's health committee regarding the patient safety program at UMC. The interim CEO said hospital operations deteriorated after UMC's contract with Huron Consulting Group ended. Mr. Boucrée testified that the hospital was already operationally dysfunctional before Veritas took control.
3. Maria Costino, the former patient safety director, testified before the committee Friday.
"Some of the information Mr. Boucrée provided to this council that day was overstated and some was misrepresented," Ms. Costino states in her prepared remarks obtained by the Post. "My decision to leave the organization was largely the result of a continued lack of support by the Veritas leadership. My time at UMC was one continuous uphill climb to have quality and patient safety be a primary focus of the organization, or more specifically the Veritas team, starting from my second day of employment."
4. In January, Ms. Costino filed a complaint with the hospital's human resources department, saying Veritas officials were involved in "an attempt to curtail my activities and filter my reports." Additionally, Ms. Costino said Diane Kelly, a Veritas executive, told her not to speak to anyone about safety problems she identified until Ms. Kelly had a chance to review them, telling Ms. Costino "you know Veritas will be blamed for this."
5. A spokesperson for the hospital and Veritas did not immediately respond to the Post's request for comment. The D.C. Council will vote next week on whether to renew the UMC contract with Veritas, which has managed the hospital for a fee of $300,000 per month.
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