One year of inspections at Temple University Hospital: September 2024 - August 2025
Temple's Episcopal campus was cited for failing to maintain cleaning logs for its crisis center.
Temple University Hospital’s Episcopal campus was cited by the Pennsylvania Department of Health for failing to maintain cleaning logs for the crisis center in May.
The incident was among more than a dozen times inspectors visited Temple’s main campus, Jeanes campus, or Episcopal campus to investigate potential safety problems between September 2024 and August. The three campuses operate under a shared license, and inspection reports do not always distinguish which campus inspectors visited.
Here’s a look at the publicly available details:
Sept. 27, 2024: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance. Complaint details are not made public when inspectors determine it was unfounded.
Oct. 1: Inspectors followed up on a January 2024 citation and found the hospital was in compliance. The Episcopal campus had been cited for failing to properly update and document mental health patients’ records and treatment plans every 30 days.
Jan. 6, 2025: The Joint Commission, a nonprofit hospital accreditation agency, renewed the hospital’s accreditation, effective May 2024, for 36 months.
Jan. 11: Inspectors came to investigate three separate complaints but found the hospital was in compliance.
Jan. 16: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
Jan. 21: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
Jan. 29: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
Feb. 5: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
Feb. 11: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
Feb. 21: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
March 4: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
March 10: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
March 12: Inspectors visited for a monitoring survey and found the hospital had violated rules related to patients’ rights to care by competent personnel. Details of the problem were not made public because the issue was fixed before inspectors arrived. The hospital’s correction plan included educating staff about how to protect vulnerable patients from leaving the hospital against medical advice. Administrators also established a system to review patients at risk and an environmental safety checklist.
March 31: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
April 4: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
May 6: Inspectors cited Temple’s Episcopal campus for not having sanitation documentation and cleaning logs for the crisis response center. Administrators retrained staff on the hospital’s sanitation policies and record-keeping requirements.
May 8: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
June 10: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint but found the hospital was in compliance.
July 14: Inspectors came to investigate a complaint at the Jeanes campus but found the hospital was in compliance.
Pennsylvania Department of Health routinely inspects hospitals to ensure the facility is safe for patients and that staff are following all safety protocols. Inspectors may also visit when a hospital staff member or patient files a complaint.
Not all safety violations spark an on-site investigation from inspectors. Hospitals are required to self-report the most serious safety violations and often work directly with the state to address them. Complaint details are not made public when inspectors determine it was unfounded.
The Inquirer tracks publicly available hospital reports related to a complaint, special monitoring, and general safety inspections. The Inquirer does not track inspections for new equipment or occupancy surveys, unless problems are identified.
Inspection reports are publicly available online and are released 40 days after the report is completed.
The Inquirer is publishing roundups of state inspection reports for Pa. hospitals in our coverage area.
