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Tahoe Surgery Center Shut Down

The Associated Press Tue, Apr 15, 2008 (12:12 p.m.)

Nevada public health officials said Tuesday the Lake Tahoe Surgery Center at Round Hill has been ordered to stop all patient care procedures following an inspection that revealed unsafe infection control practices.

The inspection was conducted by a federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services team as part of random surveys at 20 surgery facilities around the state following the discovery of flawed procedures linked to a hepatitis C outbreak at a Las Vegas clinic.

The state Bureau of Licensure and Certification, which issued the "cease patient care" order to the Tahoe center, said there was no evidence of any disease transmission as a result of practices there.

Representatives of the Tahoe center didn't immediately return calls seeking comment about the state action, the first stemming from the follow-up surveys by the federal teams.

The Tahoe center went through an initial survey conducted by the state in mid-March, and was told that improvements were needed to prevent problems such as the spread of disease or infection.

The facility was closed from March 14 to March 18 to make the required changes, and its owners submitted a plan detailing the efforts on April 1. Federal inspectors made an unannounced visit to the center on Monday.

In southern Nevada, two Las Vegas medical clinics at the center of the hepatitis C outbreak have surrendered their business licenses and paid a total of $500,000 in fines.

Mayor Oscar Goodman and lawyers for the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada and the Gastroenterology Center of Nevada say the clinics won't reopen.

The moves avoided a public hearing at which clinic doctors and nurses had been called to testify about a preliminary revocation of the business licenses after six patients contracted the potentially fatal disease during procedures. A seventh patient has since been identified with the virus.

Health inspectors believe the virus was spread by unsafe injection practices at the clinics.