Cleburne Nursing Home DIrector Reprimanded

The Cleburne County Hospital Board voted Tuesday to reprimand the nursing home administrator.   A fine was levied against the nursing home in June by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  The board members spent the majority of the nearly three-hour  Tuesday meeting in executive session, inviting nursing home administrator Eura Harrell and her attorney, Tom Harmon, into the closed session for a time. When they came out, the board voted 5-1 to reprimand Harrell in writing “for actions taken and not taken during recent events” and reserved the right to take further action if other non-disclosures or actions are discovered in the future.  The nursing home was notified of a fine being levied by the center after the local facility failed to pass its recertification inspection in May and another inspection in June spurred by a complaint found four deficiencies. The complaint involved a patient whose surgical wound was improperly cared for. The patient’s wound later became infected, requiring a hospitalization. The deficiencies were later downgraded to a less serious rating. The center sent a letter dated June 25 to the nursing home saying that it was no longer eligible to bill Medicaid for new patients  until it came back into compliance with state and federal standards.