More heat for Nevada hospital

The Nevada-based mental-health hospital accused of busing psychiatric patients to California and other states could lose accreditation.

In February, a confused and suicidal patient arrived at a homeless-services facility in Sacramento, without identification or medication, according to The Sacramento Bee. A subsequent Sac Bee investigative report revealed Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas had purchased about 1,500 Greyhound tickets for psychiatric patients since 2008, sending them to every state in the continental U.S. Roughly a third of those patients were sent to California.

The Joint Commission launched an investigation of the hospital in April, according to California Healthline. During an inspection, the commission found that Rawson-Neal failed to meet 23 standards, including ensuring the competency of staff, educating patients about follow-up care during discharge, and providing information to other health-care providers after a patient’s discharge.

On July 25, the commission issued a preliminary denial of accreditation.