Riverview Psychiatric Center has reached a major milestone toward being re-certified by the federal government.
A recent survey by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that the state-run hospital is in substantial compliance with Medicare requirements. Riverview superintendent Rodney Bouffard says the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found the hospital in "substantial compliance" with Medicare requirements.
"We're well below the national average with restraints," Bouffard says. "Seclusion rates are a little bit below the national average. Given the type of patients we take in at the facility, that's an extraordinary accomplishment."
Former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Wathen oversees a state consent decree for people with mental illness.
“It's quite an accomplishment, actually, considering where they came from,” says Wathen.
Riverview lost federal certification in 2013 after an audit found numerous issues, including the use of tasers and handcuffs to subdue patients. Wathen says the hospital has since reduced seclusion and restraint rates to below the national average.
CMS will conduct another survey of Riverview within 90 days.
