The State-run Eleanor Slater Hospital will be overseen by a team of health care management consultants while state officials work to fix numerous problems. A recent report cited numerous patient safety concerns and financial problems at the facility.
Eleanor Slater is a long-term care hospital for psychiatric or seriously disabled patients. Health officials say the facility has been understaffed and more costly to run than similar institutions. The hospital is now under a compliance order to correct a list of deficiencies to keep its license. Some of those deficiencies include endangering patient safety.
The state has named a consulting company, Applied Management Systems, to oversee the facility until a permanent executive team can be found. The hospital system serves more than 280 patients with a budget of about $116 million dollars a year, half of which is state funding.
A spokesman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, which oversees BHDDH, says Applied Management Systems was awarded the approximately $2 million dollar contract after a competitive bidding process failed to elicit an acceptable response. AMS is also the firm that produced a report earlier this year about Eleanor Slater’s shortcomings.
Eleanor Slater Hospital Compliance Order Sept 2015 (Text)
BHDDH Compliance Order Response (Text)