A December warning from HHS that it would exclude a Florida hospital from Medicare for failing to abide by a 2002 Corporate Integrity Agreement has resulted in the facility closing.

Miami Beach's South Beach Community Hospital filed for bankruptcy in February in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Miami, and closed its doors last week after transferring the last of its patients. The state of Florida has issued an order barring re-opening of the 155-bed facility. HHS issued its exclusion letter this week.

This is the first-known exclusion of a hospital for violation of a CIA and only the second reported exclusion of a hospital for any reason. A greater number of hospitals have been terminated from Medicare for various reasons, but remained eligible to re-apply after coming into compliance.