Weirton Medical Center Skilled Nursing Unit Receives Deficiency-Free State Inspection

Weirton Medical Center’s skilled nursing unit is the latest of its departments and services to receive excellent scores on an annual inspection. The medical center was notified recently that no deficiencies were found during an annual inspection of the skilled nursing unit by surveyors from the West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification.

Dr Joseph P. Endrich, president and chief executive officer, commended the staff saying that, “We are delighted that our skilled nursing unit received a deficiency-free survey. This follows similar excellent ratings for our pharmacy, laboratory, home health service and emergency department,” he said. “Skilled nursing facility inspections are very demanding and we commend our unit staff, physicians, and the Weirton Medical Center departments who assist the unit for achieving such a remarkable result. We are very proud of them for their hard work and commitment to maintaining such high standards of skilled care.”

In West Virginia, as in most states, skilled nursing facilities or nursing homes are inspected annually. The inspection results in a facility receiving an annual license to operate. If state surveyors find deficiencies, a facility is given an opportunity to correct the deficiencies within a specified time period. In worst cases, the facility could be fined or lose its license to operate.

According to Lynette Midcap, RN, MSN, director of geriatric services of Weirton Medical Center’s skilled nursing unit, “The annual state inspections can be more rigorous than the inspections for the acute care hospitals. Surveyors can spend three to four days checking the unit from top to bottom, including quality of care and life safety issues. They also inspect hospital departments that serve the unit such as the kitchen,” she explained.

“We are thrilled that our unit received a deficiency-free survey,” she said. “Our unit staff works hard to maintain high standards of care. We also appreciate the efforts of the hospital departments that provide services to the unit such as dietary, housekeeping, facilities management, pharmacy, rehabilitation services, social services and medical records. It takes a lot of coordination within the hospital to achieve these standards of care.”

This survey follows several other inspections and accreditation surveys in 2009 and 2010 that resulted in excellent scores for Weirton Medical Center’s pharmacy, laboratory, home health and emergency department.