HOUSTON – A medical facility in Houston has been forced to shut down, requiring hundreds to be moved to other facilities.
Records obtained by Local 2 Investigates show IntraCare Medical Center Hospital, 7601 Fannin, was given warning after warning. Officials with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wrote multiple inspections turned up problems that were, as they put it, a danger to the health and safety of patients.
The hospital was charged with caring for some of the most vulnerable people in Houston -- those who are chronically mentally ill and uninsured. Yet, the sign on the doors of the hospital read it will permanently close as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. Everyone, patients and staff alike have to be out of the building by that time.
IntraCare's troubles began last July when inspectors from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid found serious problems with how mentally ill patients were being restrained. Inspectors wrote those problems persisted through multiple inspections.
During inspections on July 1 and Sept. 21, IntraCare was cited for chemically restraining patients without an updated treatment plan.
Another inspection on Nov. 17 showed the same problems with how patients were physically restrained and the staff's use of a so-called "quiet room" for patients who were agitated.
After that third inspection, IntraCare was sent a letter stating its contract with the Medicare and Medcaid program was being terminated because of "deficiencies that represent an immediate and serious threat to patient health and safety."
IntraCare officials said more than half of their patients were on Medicare or Medicaid and the facility could not financially survive without that money, so there was no choice but to close the hospital.
IntraCare was one of the largest in-patient psychiatric care hospitals in the Houston area. Its closure was expected to put a strain on other county facilities. Harris County has 52 state-funded psychiatric beds per 1 million people. The national average is 147 beds per 1 million people.
Harris County is well below the national average when it comes to having resources to treat the chronically mentally ill. Many patients wind up in jail for minor crimes, simply because there are not enough beds at psychiatric hospitals to treat everyone.
IntraCare Chief Executive Officer Terry Scovill said the hospital will not try to win back its certification, saying the process is too long and costly.
IntraCare has a second facility in north Houston that still has its certification. Scovill said he was trying to transfer as many patients and staff as he could to that hospital.
