Cookeville Regional Medical Center Official said it has seen contract improvements after completing its five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement.
The agreement part of a resolution that CRMC had with the Office of Inspector General that set guidelines to improve contract language and ensure the hospital’s compliance with laws such as the Stark Law and the Anti-Kickback Law. Board of Trustees Chairman Danny Rader said the hospital has worked diligently over the past five years to meet these requirements.
“The hospital has really re-worked the way that it does contracts altogether,” Rader said. “And they have got a system that they call contract guardian, where all the contracts are monitored. They are approved by all the correct people. They are tracked and ensure compliance all the way down the line.”
CRMC has received a letter from the Office of Inspector General signifying that the agreement has been fulfilled. Rader said CRMC will continue to follow the guidelines of the agreement even though the agreement is over.
“The changes have really been positive, and we have seen the improvement and seen the way the contracts are being tracked and the compliances being done,” Rader said. “Paula (Corporate Compliance Officer Paula Duty) has done such a tremendous job that the hospital is committed to continuing that agreement and continuing all the changes that they have made in the future.”
CEO Buffy Key said the Office of Inspector General reviews all kinds of contracts, including vendor contracts, physician contracts, and provider contracts. Key said the Office of Inspector General had pointed out issues with some of the hospital’s contracts before the agreement.
“They had some concerns about some contracts and said, ‘Hey, this doesn’t include these elements or these elements maybe imply this, and it should really not, and it should imply this instead,'” Key said. “So they just kind of told us, ‘hey, listen, you need to do better at this.'”
Key said the former administration started the new process, and the current administration finished it. Key said the agreement has been fantastic for CRMC and echoed Rader’s comments on how much the hospital has improved its contracts.
