Tahoe surgery center reopens
CARSON CITY -- An order by Nevada public health officials to stop patient care has been lifted at a Lake Tahoe clinic while the clinic continues to work with federal health inspectors to correct problems with its infection-control practices.
The Lake Tahoe Surgery Center at Round Hill, part of Barton HealthCare System, resumed a surgery schedule Wednesday after submitting a plan to correct unsafe syringe use at the clinic.
The state had issued a cease-and-desist order April 14, after a surprise federal health inspection discovered the problems. It was the second health inspection in a month to uncover unsafe infection-control practices at the clinic.
Nevada Health Division spokeswoman Martha Framsted said state surveyors told the Tahoe clinic that it could resume patient care after they visited the center and observed staffers using proper infection control practices.
The Health Division is operating under a "zero tolerance" policy since a hepatitis C outbreak in Las Vegas was linked to unsafe injection practices at an endoscopy center. Eight patients have contracted hepatitis C.
