Michaud: OPEGA Investigation Isn't Enough

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud today called for immediate action by the LePage administration to improve patient and staff safety at Riverview Psychiatric Center.

The call comes after damaging new details of conditions at the hospital in the Portland Press Herald and after the Government Oversight Committee voted unanimously to investigate the ongoing issues with the facility.

"We need to see improvement immediately," Michaud said. "While an investigation can help us to understand what went wrong, it does nothing to improve conditions at Riverview today. We can't turn a blind eye to what's happening right now. An OPEGA investigation isn't enough."

While supporting the Legislature's efforts, Michaud called on Gov. LePage to address the ongoing problems, which have cost the state millions of dollars in federal funding and put the health and safety of patients and staff at risk.

"Gov. LePage is aware of the problems at Riverview, but he's refused to take action, to hold the Department of Health and Human Services accountable or to even answer questions about the crisis."

Earlier this year, Michaud proposed the creation of an Office of Inspector General to investigate waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement at the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate and address issues of mismanagement like what is going on at Riverview.

In July, Michaud said that if he were governor he would launch an immediate investigation into the mismanagement of Riverview after Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a review of the hospital and documented troubling issues including unreported medication errors and inadequate patient care.

"Gov. LePage's Department of Health and Human Services is in disarray. What's happening at Riverview fits a terrible pattern within the administration, which includes documents being shredded at the CDC, a failed effort to privatize non-emergency transportation services that left vulnerable people stranded, and a plagiarized consultants report that cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars," Michaud said. "We can't wait any longer. We need a plan to immediately improve conditions are Riverview."

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