JOAN CLINIC SLAPPED
Feds strip it of Medicare and Medicaid rights
The Upper East Side clinic that allegedly botched Joan Rivers’ throat procedure just before she died will lose its federal accreditation — and funding — at the end of this month, regulators said.
Yorkville Endoscopy, beginning Jan. 31, “will no longer be eligible to receive federal funds for services provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries,” according to a notice from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The loss of federal accreditation doesn’t necessarily mean the clinic will close. Doctors there can still treat patients with private insurance.
Regulators couldn’t say how much federal money Yorkville Endoscopy stands to lose.
Rivers’ shocking death prompted state probes of the doctors, and this federal look at the clinic’s procedures.
The federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services blasted Yorkville Endoscopy for a host of faults it has allegedly failed to correct:
Patients were discharged without mandated evaluation by an anesthesiologist.
Investigators, seeking 12 months of records, were given only six months of requested data.
The clinic did not have records showing mandated maintenance of equipment.
The clinic did not post patient’s rights notices, as required — a potentially galling oversight since Rivers’ heart stopped while undergoing a procedure she did not authorize.
Yorkville Endoscopy said it plans to appeal the federal ban. “We are continuing to work with all regulatory bodies,” said clinic spokeswoman Marcia Horowitz.
“We intend to communicate with CMSCM and appropriate authorities to have the decision reversed.” Rivers, 81, died Sept. 4 at Mount Sinai Hospital following her Aug. 28 visit to Yorkville Endoscopy. The comedian wanted a scope of her vocal cords to find out what was causing her hoarseness and discomfort.
While she was unconscious under anesthesia, Yorkville medical director Dr. Lawrence Cohen and Rivers’ ENT specialist, Dr. Gwen Korovin, went a step further and took a biopsy of a polyp on her vocal cords.
During this extended procedure, the “Fashion Police” host didn’t get enough oxygen to her brain and went into cardiac arrest, investigators have said.