The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has granted Brookwood Baptist Medical Center an extension for funding on services for Medicare and Medicaid patients, federal officials confirm.

The results of the federal survey completed Thursday night determined the hospital could continue participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs, but will face another survey in the future. Hospital officials said they do not know when the hospital will be surveyed again.

"We are pleased to report that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) survey has concluded, and Brookwood Baptist Medical Center's action plan has been accepted. We will continue to fully participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs without interruption. There is more work ahead, and we will be resurveyed in the future, but we are no longer in immediate jeopardy status," hospital CEO Keith Parrott said in a statement Thursday night.

"I am proud that our team was able to successfully make the organizational and procedural changes required. Going forward, we will continue to work with our governing agencies, including CMS and the Alabama Department of Public Health, to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to patient safety and implementation of our corrective actions.

Brookwood Baptist Medical Center takes patient safety very seriously and remains fully committed to providing the quality of care our community expects."

A CMS spokeswoman said Friday morning that terms had been reached with Brookwood that allows the hospital to work to come into compliance within the next 60 days.

"The immediate jeopardies have been abated at this time, but the hospital remains in noncompliance status and must work to correct the deficiencies cited to protect the health and safety of the facility's patients," said CMS spokeswoman April Washington.

"We continue to work with the state survey agency to monitor the facility. Our first priority is to project the health and safety of the facility's patients."

The hospital, facing a string of patient deaths, was told last month by federal officials that payments from Medicare and Medicaid could end Aug. 9. It was the second time the hospital had received that warning in a little more than two months.

Brookwood is a 645-bed, full-service hospital located just to the east of Highway 31 and south of Lakeshore Drive. It's owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, a for-profit hospital chain.

Its first warning came after a patient died in the psychiatric department in April. The patient suffered a heart attack after being restrained. CMS officials said hospital staff didn't follow proper procedures for physically restraining a patient.

Hospital officials submitted a plan of correction and were approved to continue providing services to Medicare and Medicaid patients in May.

However, a survey completed in mid-July discovered more problems, bringing another warning from CMS.

Inspectors said two patient deaths, one severe injury and trauma from falls could have been prevented by following hospital procedures. Inspectors also found hospital staff failed to properly track patients' vital signs, putting them in danger of death or injury.

One investigator discovered no staff members, including nurses, entered a patient's room for 10 hours in May.

In January, a bipolar patient in a psychiatric program escaped the facility and jumped from a parking garage. The patient disappeared after she checked in for treatment, but before the first group therapy session. Records show her husband called several times to check on her and warn staff she might try to leave, according to an inspection report. According to the report, staff failed to notice the patient had escaped and never tried to track her down.

In May, a 35-year-old patient nearly died after an extreme drop in blood pressure went untreated by hospital staff. Reports show the nurse did not notify the doctor of the patient's decreasing pressure until the patient was unresponsive.

The patient was placed on a ventilator and treated in intensive care for more than a week.

On June 10, a patient died after receiving a dose of pain medication for possible indigestion. The monitor indicated the patient's pulse had stopped 15 minutes before a family member notified staff. The monitor technician failed to notice a decline in the patient's heart rate before the heart stopped.

At least one other patient with diagnoses of psychosis and depression left the hospital in July and was found in nearby woods.