Image of nurses' hands at computer keyboard

A recent New York Times article has sparked a Senate investigation into Select Medical Corp., one of the country’s largest long-term care hospital providers.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter Monday to the CEO of Select Medical, a for-profit operator of nearly 90 long-term care hospitals. Select Medical was singled out in a recent New York Times article for alleged patient neglect, as well as inadequate staffing. (McKnight’s, 2/16/10) The senators have asked Select Medical to answer the allegations raised in the New York Times article, as well as provide copies of corporate policies and protocols concerning patient discharge information and emergency procedures.

The allegations raised in the New York Times article are of “great concern,” the senators wrote, especially if the situations described are common “in the [long-term care hospital] industry as a whole, as the article suggests.” Though Select Medical will be the primary focus of the investigation, the committee has asked the Government Accountability Office to review information concerning all long-term care hospitals.