State investigative report reveals numerous violations at HOPE pain clinic
Salaries for medical professionals would "cut into doctor's profits," a clinic worker explained, so none were hired.
Instead, a janitor was the official lab technician. A receptionist doubled as the "infections control specialist."
Untrained, unlicensed, non-medical clinic staff -- called "narcotics auditors" -- took patients' blood pressure, made clinical evaluations, took patient histories, ordered drug tests and entered narcotic prescription information into the clinic RX machines.
Those violations of strict laws for
State officials decided not to approve an initial license for HOPE. Instead, they ordered it closed by
According to the report, which
None of the employee's medical records at HOPE were complete.
HOPE staff also couldn't prove that they'd had one year of training in pain management, as required by state law.
One physician's personnel file was missing, and the HOPE human resources manager told investigators that doctor "is all the way in
OHFLAC discovered a box of 216 narcotics prescriptions inside a brown cardboard box in the HOPE designated physician-owner's office. They'd been prepared and printed by the unlicensed medical staff -- "narcotics auditors" -- for a physician to sign.
Narcotics auditors, according to the report, were contracted, non-medical personnel who worked for Patients Physicians Pharmacists Fighting Diversion (PPPFD).
According to the PPPFD and HOPE websites, the clinic shares a physical address with PPPFD.
Since July, OHFLAC has been investigating clinics around the state for licensing purposes. The licensing process is part of a law signed by Gov.
The
OHFLAC officials had ordered a sister HOPE clinic in
HOPE officials weren't available for comment Friday but had previously responded through a
"
"
"Primarily,
----OHFLAC investigators reported that patient health and safety was put at risk by HOPE practices and that patient care was sub-par.
Patient records at the Beaver HOPE clinic didn't contain enough information to identify patients. The records didn't support patient diagnosis or justify treatment, OHFLAC investigators reported. HOPE staff didn't document patients' health histories, current medications, or whether or not they were dependent on controlled substances or being treated at another pain clinic. Results of follow-up physical exams were absent from records.
There was no proof that HOPE staff had sent inquiries about patients to the West Virginia Controlled Substance Monitoring Program. There were no records that CSMP had sent results of patient checks back to the clinic.
By law, all licensees who dispense Schedule II, III and IV controlled substances must provide the dispensing information to the
The CSMP program is compliant with the federal
Doctors were unable to produce documents that showed patients were given initial exams or offered counseling and 90-day check-ups as required by law. Auditors used their own personal judgments on whether a patient was abusing drugs.
There wasn't an effective infection control program to prevent communicable diseases, and OHFLAC investigators saw one patient leave the clinic without being checked by a physician.
Investigators watched an auditor take a patient's blood pressure. He admitted that he'd only read the directions and watched the doctor do it and that he didn't now how to calibrate the pressure cuff.
One worker told OHFLAC investigators that she had been hired as a janitor in July but had been promoted to lab technician the following September.
"They came to tell me they were putting letters in my file for medical assistant and lab tech and that these would be added to my job titles," the janitor reportedly told OHFLAC officials.
She added that she had been trained to take vital signs but was not practicing in the full scope of her medical assistant certification and that she did not write in patient charts.
Additionally, OHFLAC officials discovered that 73 patients had been transferred from another HOPE clinic to the HOPE location in
The sister clinic location was not identified in the report. Names of doctors and staff members weren't listed in the OHFLAC documents.
On the HOPE website, Dr.
-- E-mail: [email protected]
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