CMS recently announced that Medicare will stop paying for six hospital-acquired conditions in 2008. CMS is also considering halting payment for an additional seven conditions in 2009, according to the June 18 issue of www.amednews.com, an online publication of the American Medical Association (AMA).
The rule, proposed to go into effect in October 2008, targets the following six "costly and sometimes deadly preventable hospital-acquired conditions," according to the AMA:
- Pressure ulcers
- Catheter-associated urinary tract infections
- Staphylococcus Aureus Septicemia
- Air embolism
- Blood incompatibility
- Object left behind in surgical patient
The article states that patient safety advocates fear the current U.S. health care payment system does not offer hospitals sufficient financial incentive to help prevent complications because hospitals make money treating conditions that inpatients acquire during their hospitalization.
Medicare is seeking comment on the seven additional hospital-acquired conditions that it is considering adding to the "no-pay" list in 2009.
To read the full article, click here.
[ via Hospitalist Program Weekly ]
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