12/25/2014    

MEDICARE NEWS

Medicare Cuts Payments to 721 Hospitals With Highest Rates of Infections, Injuries

 

In its toughest crackdown yet on medical errors, the federal government is cutting payments to 721 hospitals for having high rates of infections and other patient injuries, records released Thursday show. One out of every seven hospitals in the nation will have their Medicare payments lowered by 1 percent over the fiscal year that began October 1 and continues through September 2015. The health law mandates the reductions for the quarter of hospitals that Medicare assessed as having the highest rates of "hospital-acquired conditions," or HACs. These conditions include infections from catheters, blood clots, bed sores, and other complications that are considered avoidable.

 

The penalties, which are estimated to total $373 million, are falling particularly hard on academic medical centers: Roughly half of them will be punished, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis. The new penalties are harsher than any prior government effort to reduce patient harm. Since 2008, Medicare has refused to pay hospitals for the cost of treating patients who suffer avoidable complications. 

 

Source: Jordan Rau, Medscape News [12/22/14]