HHS abandons Catholic hospital accreditation threat
Breccan F. Thies
The Department of Health and Human Services has dropped its accreditation ultimatum to a Catholic hospital after the medical center threatened legal action.
HHS was considering denying Oklahoma’s St. Francis Health System accreditation for keeping a candle lit in hospital sanctuaries after an accreditation review determined it was a fire risk.
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In response, the health system partnered with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to threaten a lawsuit on First Amendment religious liberty grounds.
“The game was simply not worth the candle for HHS,” Lori Windham, Becket Fund vice president and senior counsel, said Friday. “It realized it would be playing with fire in court if it stood by its absurd demand, so it chose wisely. We are glad Saint Francis can continue to serve those most in need while keeping the faith.”
According to St. Francis, which operates the 12th-largest hospital in the country and the largest hospital in the Sooner State, eternal flames have remained lit in its institutions for as long as 63 years without a problem from the federal government.
After a meeting between representatives from St. Francis and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the dispute was dropped.
“We believe today’s discussion and agreed upon solution enables St. Francis South Hospital to maintain a living flame in the hospital chapel while mitigating fire risks,” a letter from CMS Division of Continuing and Acute Care Providers Director Scott J. Cooper said.
The agreement is contingent upon a waiver, which requires the hospital to provide a “plan of correction” to take “appropriate steps to mitigate fire risks.”
Such steps include posting signage notifying persons of the existence of the flame. CMS said the agreement would set a precedent for other hospitals, according to a letter from Michael Lissau, hospital general counsel and senior vice president.
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However, Lissau asked CMS for assurances that relevant regulations that brought the issue will not be used as grounds for future citations.
An “inability to guarantee consistency in interpretation stoked certain concerns for us that future interpretations of the codes may result in another citation of the sanctuary candle,” Lissau wrote. “Despite the mutual agreement reached, for which we are thankful, we asked CMS for certain guarantees that the flame, which was not an issue before this year, would not be an issue in future years, provided Saint Francis continues to prudently maintain the flame with the already existing safety measures.”