Parkland to pay $1M patient safety settlement

Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas will pay $1 million to the Texas health department to settle accusations that it violated patient safety, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

The largest-of-its-kind settlement between Parkland and the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) resolves and dismisses all potential litigation and enforcement actions for compliance issues that occurred before May 31st, the health system announced Friday.

On top of the payment, Parkland will report monthly to DSHS about its progress toward reaching Medicare and Medicaid compliance. It also must notify the state health department of reportable adverse events within two business days of each incident, after which the health system has 45 days to assess the root cause of the event and create an action plan to prevent similar incidents.

"We appreciate the DSHS's willingness to work with Parkland on a settlement that allows us to focus on fixing the compliance issues that have troubled our healthcare system," Debbie Branson, chair of Parkland's board of managers, said in a statement. "We will cooperate fully with this agreement as we continue to work toward completion of our corrective action plan."

Parkland Hospital submitted a corrective action plan last year, aiming to overhaul patient safety efforts by hiring at least 10 more nurses, creating new emergency room policies and enforcing infection control, among other improvements.

However, public safety monitors last week said, although Parkland is completing 80 percent of required tasks in the corrective action plan, it still reportedly suffers from oversight and patient safety issues.

To learn more:
- read the Dallas Business Journal article
- here's the Parkland statement