Posted on 06/01/2011 6:32:08 PM PDT by UniqueViews
WASHINGTON -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that hospitals and healthcare providers will no longer be reimbursed for treating their Medicaid patients for illnesses, injuries, or readmissions that should have been prevented.
A final rule announced Wednesday enacts a portion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that prohibits states from making Medicaid payments to providers for conditions that are deemed "reasonably preventable."
In 2008, Medicare stopped reimbursing hospitals for treating conditions, infections, or illnesses that were acquired in the hospital, and for any readmissions associated with treating those hospital-acquired conditions.
The Medicaid list of what is preventable mirrors the Medicare list, which includes transfusing the wrong blood type; falls that result in dislocation, fractures, or head injuries; burns and electric shocks; catheter-associated urinary tract infections; surgical site infections after bariatric surgery or coronary artery bypass; and manifestations of poor glycemic control.
In addition, CMS has issued National Coverage Decisions stating that Medicare won't pay for certain so-called "never events" -- those which should never happen -- including performing the wrong procedure; performing the procedure on the wrong body part, or performing the correct procedure, but on the wrong patient.
Medicaid will also follow Medicare's lead on that issue and not pay for never events.
"These steps will encourage health professionals and hospitals to reduce preventable infections and eliminate serious medical errors," CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, MD, said in a press release. "As we reduce the frequency of these conditions, we will improve care for patients and bring down costs at the same time."
States can identify additional preventable conditions for which Medicaid payment will be denied.
The final rule is effective July 1, 2011, but gives states the option to implement between its effective date and July 1, 2012.
Since Medicare enacted its policy of not paying for preventable events, private insurers have begun to do the same.
For instance, Aetna doesn't reimburse for eight hospital-acquired infections or for three never events, according to information provided by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), an industry trade group. Cigna doesn't pay for never events, reduces payments for hospital-acquired infections in certain cases, and offers payment incentives for hospitals who follow standardized protocols to improve patient safety, AHIP said.
Just wait until the queers figure this one out, LOL.
This is just the start. By the time they are finished...there won’t be anything that isn’t the patient’s “fault”.
The idea that any of this will “save money” is laughable...because failing to treat these issue ...will lead to far more serious ones I would expect.
They are broke. and rather than step up to the plate and honestly admit it...they gonna play games with We the People..their employers. That can’t lead to a peaceful collaborative outcome in the end.
Congress .. grow a pair and throw this shit out lock, stock and barrel.
Then get rid of obama.
...and do you expect there WILL NOT BE any special wavers?..for certain class of people?...union members?
Sort of like the current waiver frenzy. Who gets waivers and who doesn't — apparently the well connected and those who are in good favor with the those in power... and supported the thing, Obamacare, that the want waivers for.
Does this make sense? Absolutely not. But when you realize that it is a huge power play, then yes it makes sense.
wavers?=waivers
Yes, indeed we should if a hospital does things like this to us:
""transfusing the wrong blood type; falls that result in dislocation, fractures, or head injuries; burns and electric shocks; catheter-associated urinary tract infections; surgical site infections after bariatric surgery or coronary artery bypass; and manifestations of poor glycemic control...
performing the wrong procedure; performing the procedure on the wrong body part, or performing the correct procedure, but on the wrong patient.""
Just tweeted ... does this mean everyone to be aborted to prevent life?
After all, if no one was born, nothing medical would occur to them.
SHAMELESSLY HATEFUL Obama!
Well now that’s real humane.
How’s that going for you, dems?
The government is only talking about not reimbursing events which occur in hospital, for which the hospital is held accountable. The hospital will have to eat the losses for such things as falls in hospital. But will Medicaid and Medicare pay for a sitter in with each disoriented post-op patient or sundowning demented patient? No.
Will the gov’t not require hospitals to treat patient-generated never events, such as skipping three dialysis treatments or hold-mah-beer injuries? No, EMTALA will still require hospitals to treat and stabilize patients, even if no payment is forthcoming.
“... performing the correct procedure, but on the wrong patient. “
I don’t know- how about paying half? They were half right...
A classic example of how Ayn Rand warned about the consequences of allowing someone else to dictate what you “need”. You don’t need that
big car or a gun. You do need an insurance policy...and we’ll prosecute you if you fail to buy one. The control freaks are itching to direct your every move.
We The People will have to organize and ensure that this Holocaust is repealed. Anyone in DC not on board with stopping this Nazi scheme must be voted out.
They will die.
Or they will pay their own way. But I suspect that won’t be allowed much longer anyway.
“They are just stuck with not getting paid.”
... and therefore having to make the cost up from charges to the other patients.
That’s always been their only recourse with government healthcare. There’s no negotiation.
(These rules do sound reasonable, though a very small amount of error could be allowed.)
Falls, infections, and the like are not always preventable. Not every bad thing that happens to a hospitalized patient is the result of malpractice, negligence, poor technique, or an error.
Sometimes, things just happen. Sometimes, people play an active role in bad things happening to them in the hospital, just as they do outside the hospital.
I too share your skepticism, but this is a reimbursement issue and not a coverage issue. Having worked in hospital management for thirty years, too many hospitals spend more time gaming the government reimbursement system than they do in promoting quality care. Hospitals should do the right thing and provide some modicum of quality (value) in exchange for payment from the tax payers. The down side is that each new regulation is a step towards a national health system.
That is probably preferable to going in for knee surgery and waking up with a bandaged head.
How’s that hope and change tasting now you bunch of Obama hack AARP @$$holes?
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