Medicare could penalize local hospitals

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jun/29/medicare-hospitals-penalty-infections-program/



Sharp Memorial Hospital in Serra Mesa is one of seven hospitals in the county that could be penalized by Medicare starting in the fall.

Medicare could penalize local hospitals
By Paul Sisson3:49 p.m.
June 29, 2014

Preliminary federal data shows that seven local hospitals are collectively at risk of losing millions in Medicare reimbursements this fall.

They are among 761 hospitals nationwide listed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as potentially receiving a 1 percent penalty for having high rates of patient complications when compared to their peers.

The agency scored 3,203 hospitals nationwide on a scale of one to 10 — 10 being worst — after analyzing their rates of preventable infections and other serious but avoidable complications such as falls, bed sores and wounds that split open after surgery. Medical centers in the worst quarter of all hospitals will have to stomach a one-year, 1 percent reduction to their overall Medicare reimbursements, starting in October.

The initiative, called the “Hospital Acquired Condition Reduction Program,” is one of three projects mandated by the Affordable Care Act that attempt to use financial penalties to increase the quality of care for patients.