WATCH REPORT
The investigation came in response to a CNN story this week that showed that between 2011 and 2013 the West Palm Beach hospital had a 12.5% mortality rate for open heart surgery, three times the national average.(CNN)The Federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has launched an investigation into deaths of babies following open heart surgeries at St. Mary's Medical Center in Florida.
The investigation came in response to a CNN story this week that showed between 2011 to 2013, the West Palm Beach hospital had a 12.5% mortality rate for open heart surgery, three times the national average.
"We take these allegations very seriously. CMS is actively investigating these complaints," Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wrote in an email. The agency is investigating because most of the patients who had heart surgery at St. Mary's were Medicaid patients.
Tenet Healthcare, which owns St. Mary's, did not respond to CNN's request for comment on the federal investigation.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, as well as the state's Agency for Healthcare Administration and the state Department of Health, did not respond to requests for interviews about the child death rate at St. Mary's.
A federal official told CNN on Friday that "this is a serious situation."
