Investigators blame hospital for lack of treatment

Federal investigators say Littleton Adventist Hospital failed to properly screen patients for psychiatric problems in its emergency room and may have sent some of them to jail, detox or other medical facilities.
    
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigates patient-dumping complaints because it provides much of a hospital's revenue. Regulators have ordered corrections and threatened to withhold future payments.
    
Centura Health, the nonprofit organization that owns Littleton Adventist and other hospitals, says it has changed its policies, and told Medicare it will no longer transfer patients before completing evaluations.
    
According to the Denver Post (http://tinyurl.com/cky77j5 ), hospital officials said they cannot comment on specific cases because of patient confidentiality.