The Daily News reports that the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center is trouble with the federal and state governments.
It has been given until Aug. 18 to correct three “conditions of participation” as a Medicare provider or its Medicare reimbursements will be terminated. In an Aug. 1 letter, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid said it had made the decision to terminate payments based on Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration (ACHA) findings. Read more.
Last Friday the Florida Department of Children and Families had ordered Fort Walton Beach Medical Center immediately to stop admitting patients brought there under the Baker Act. An ACHA investigation had found that the hospital has reported 45 Baker Act escapes to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office since Jan. 1, 2007, and has averaged 26 escapes a year since 2005.
Less than two weeks ago, a delusional and violent-acting Mark Rohlman, 47, escaped twice from the hospital. After the second escape, he went to home of his deceased father on Plymouth Avenue in Fort Walton Beach.
When the Sheriff’s Office’s Special Response team entered the home July 22 to take Rohlman into custody again, he fatally shot Deputy Anthony Forgione before taking his own life.
Read more.