Medical Center Could Lose Millions Of Dollars In Funding

DALLAS (AP) — Baylor University Medical Center has been warned that it could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding after inspectors found several instances of psychiatric patients walking away from the hospital's emergency department before finishing treatment.   

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services told Baylor this week that it will lose the funding if it doesn't remedy deficiencies that put patients in "immediate jeopardy" of their health and safety.

The hospital, one of the largest in Dallas, sees about 100,000 patients a year in its emergency department. Medicare accounts for about $300 million of Baylor University Medical Center's $1 billion in total revenue.

Hospital president John McWhorter told The Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/1yWdcK9 ) on Thursday that the hospital began preparing fixes after inspectors left on Sept. 12.