CMS pulls Medicare funding at clinic involved in Joan Rivers’ death

CMS has terminated its Medicare agreement with Yorkville Endoscopy, a New York City clinic that came under scrutiny following Joan Rivers’ death after an outpatient procedure. In a letter sent to the clinic last week, the agency said it is terminating the Medicare agreement Jan. 31 because the clinic “no longer meets the conditions of coverage for a supplier of ambulatory surgical center services” and will no longer receive federal funds for services provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

New York State health officials had been investigating the clinic where Rivers had outpatient throat surgery last August, as well as the circumstances surrounding the 81-year-old entertainer’s procedure and its complications. Rivers died several days after the procedure. Her death “resulted from a predictable complication of medical therapy,” the New York medical examiner’s office concluded.

Source: Los Angeles Times