The company that owns Via Christi Health, which provides health care services in Wichita and central Kansas, says that they’re working to fix issues raised in a federal audit earlier this month.
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, or CMS, found "severe clinical operational deficiencies" during an unscheduled audit of Via Christi'sHOPE program, which provides in-home care for seniors in Sedgwick County.
CMS found that Via Christi failed to provide patients in the program with medically necessary items and services. In one instance, Via Christi didn’t set up a dental appointment for a patient with broken teeth. Two months later, he was hospitalized with a tooth abscess.
Read the full CMS letter here.
The audit also found errors with service requests and appeals, leading to delays and denials of medically necessary services.
Earlier this month, CMS ordered Via Christi to halt new enrollment in HOPE until it has corrected the issues.
A spokesman for Ascension Health, the Catholic health system that purchased Via Christi in 2013, said in an emailed statement that they are “working to address the findings identified by the CMS.”
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