Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Regains Deemed Status from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center (CRMC) officials announced today that the hospital has regained its deemed status from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

CMS notified the hospital in writing that its standing has been reinstated.

“We are pleased with the decision made by both the Wyoming Department of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,” said Patrick Madigan, CRMC’s interim chief executive officer.

“It’s important for our community to know that the temporary loss of deemed status was the result of our discharge planning process for one patient and was in no way related to the quality of care provided at the hospital,” Madigan said. “We believe we had strong discharge planning for vulnerable populations in place. When we were notified by CMS of areas they felt needed more attention, we immediately developed a detailed action plan to further strengthen the processes. That plan was approved and validated by the Wyoming Department of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”

CRMC’s standing was reinstated after a Wyoming Department of Health official conducted an unannounced survey at the hospital on August 10 to verify that the corrective plan had been implemented.

Madigan also confirmed that CRMC has continued to treat Medicare and Medicaid patients and that the hospital’s overall day-to-day operations and funding were not impacted while it waited for the decision from CMS.

Deemed status indicates that CMS has approved that a third party can validate the quality of care delivery at a healthcare facility. For CRMC that validation is provided by The Joint Commission, a private healthcare accrediting agency that conducts an onsite survey of the hospital at least every three years.