Rural Texas hospital shuts its doors

Cozby-Germany Hospital in Grand Saline, Texas, shut down last week, leaving rural Van Zandt County with no hospital as fallout continued from the collapse of Dr. Tariq Mahmood’s healthcare chain. New physician-managers took over after Mahmood’s company was evicted in July, but did not promptly fix the safety crises that regulators have documented in recent years at most of Mahmood’s facilities, federal records show. Federal prosecutors charged Mahmood in April with conspiring to overbill the government $1.1 million for patient care at Cozby-Germany and elsewhere in his six-hospital chain. A July 19 inspection report cited a lack of nurses, use of untrained technicians, and physicians who were on duty around the clock for up to 14 days at a stretch, according to the Dallas Morning News.