Top doctor at troubled state hospital resigns less than year after taking job
PROVIDENCE – Dr. Elinore F. McCance-Katz, the chief medical officer of the state-run Eleanor Slater Hospital – and the state agency that runs it – has resigned less than a year after taking the job citing "family reasons," according to a spokesman.
Her last day is July 22.
She returned to the hospital – that she left for a top mental-health post in Trump-era Washington – at a time of turmoil that saw her predecessor quit and the CEO suspended without pay before quitting.
And she is leaving at a point the hospital – with about 200 patients across two campuses in Cranston and Burrillville – is under investigation by the Rhode Island attorney general and Disability Rights Rhode Island, an independent, federally mandated "protection and advocacy system for the state of Rhode Island."
It is also in danger of losing its eligibility for federal dollars.
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Among the findings by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid that placed the hospital on a federal watch list:
"The hospital failed to demonstrate adherence to nationally recognized infection prevention and control guidelines, as well as to best practices for the prevention of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2, 2019 Novel Coronavirus."
Randal Edgar, a spokesman for the state Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals, provided a copy of BHDDH Director Richard Charest's statement to staff on Thursday:
It said, in part: “Dr. McCance-Katz played a pivotal role in the turn-around of the hospital. Undaunted by the challenges that faced us, she steadfastly navigated the hospital forward."
"Her accomplishments were many, from the rebuilding of hospital services, reinstituting the admission process, and implementing policies and procedures aimed at improving patient care.
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"She [also] laid the groundwork for expanding services in the outpatient forensic clinic, worked with colleagues at BHDDH and [the Executive Office of Health and Human Services] to establish integrated mental health, substance use disorder and physician health treatment resources... and worked collaboratively with our staff on numerous projects.”
She also had a penchant for stirring up controversies.
She conveyed her views on the damaging effects that she believes masking, school closings and "social isolation" during the pandemic have had on children to a U.S. House Committee and a conservative radio talk show.
A video snippet of her remarks was posted by @RNCresearch on Twitter.
Echoing a national GOP attack line against Democrats, the tweet said: "Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, a psychologist and expert in mental health, says masks are leaving children with verbal, motor and cognitive 'deficits'."
For the record: @RNCResearch says it is managed by the Republican National Committee for the purpose of "exposing the lies, hypocrisy and failed far-left policies of Joe Biden and the Democrat Party."
Her comments came at a time when COVID was surging at the state hospital, and a federal agency — the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — was days from issuing a report citing inadequate infection control as one of many serious problems at the hospital.
"An interim CMO will be named by Dr. McCance-Katz’s last day of service. The search for a new Chief Medical Officer will soon be underway," Edgar said.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Top doctor at Eleanor Slater Hospital resigns after less than a year