Oregon Public Broadcasting

A joint commission from a leading U.S. hospital organization has balked at giving the Oregon State Hospital full accreditation. But because the state hospital met the standard on all but one criterion, the commission granted a “conditional” accreditation.

That means hospital staff will have to improve certain record-keeping efforts by this spring.

Patricia Feeney is a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Human Services, which supervises the state hospital.

Patricia Feeney: “There were also some documentation on patient records that were not signed by physicians, or did not include complete summary descriptions. And so those are the things that staff have honed in on, worked on, so we can have full accreditation come spring.”

Feeney says hospital officials are confident they can fix the problems. In addition, she says patient records will soon be mostly electronic – making lapses like the ones found in the inspection less likely.

Oregon also plans to replace the state hospital over the next few years - with smaller facilities in Salem and Junction City.