Superb DOH Report on Midtown Health Center

The New York State Department of Health (DOH) recently performed an unannounced inspection of the Midtown Health Center and issued a superb report on the results.

The Article 28 inspection, which took place without any advance notification, lasted a full week. It was the first Article 28 inspection of one of our union’s health centers in more than 10 years, and the results were glowing.

The inspection was performed by a team of examiners and it was quite thorough. It included a physical inspection of the entire Midtown Health Center building, a review of all policies and procedures, interviews with staff members, an entire day reviewing personnel files, including physician credentialing, medical staff meeting notes and trustees’ meeting minutes.

It’s not the report’s findings that make it so impressive, it is actually the fact that there were no findings! Yes, not one violation or infraction was found. Not one! The DOH released its final report, stating there were “no regulatory findings,” and that is the absolute highest evaluation a facility can receive. In addition, it is possible that it may be one of only a handful of “no finding” reports ever issued!

Usually, the Article 28 reports have four or five pages of violations, mostly minor but sometimes major. What kind of minor infractions could there be? It could be as simple as a missing ZIKA virus poster, a piece of paper on the floor or an employee not wearing an identification name tag. But even minor infractions like these were nowhere to be found at the Midtown Health Center. It really is a laudable accomplishment.

It should be noted that because of the structure of the union’s health care system the Health Centers are actually exempt from Article 28 inspections by the New York State Department of Health. But our facilities participate voluntarily in the program to help ensure the highest quality of service to members and their families, according to Benefit Funds Chief Executive Officer Dr. Robert Greenspan. He added that these results were a tribute to the staff at Midtown and elsewhere. “We are always very proud of the job our staff does,” Greenspan said, “but this really is the icing on the cake. It is validation from the DOH of how well our Health Centers are performing.”

“I’m told that it is almost unheard of for a facility to not have a single violation or infraction in an Article 28 inspection,” Hotel Trades Council President Peter Ward said. “On behalf of our members and their families—the people our Health Centers serve—we express our appreciation to Dr. Greenspan and the management and staff members at our Health Centers.”.