Released: October 21, 2008

Medicare says ‘no’ to bed sores

Source: Cindy Skrzycki, Washington Post (Free Registration)

Hospitals will no longer get paid for some specific treatment errors, including infections, bed sores and objects left inside patients after surgery, under a new Medicare policy.

Regulators at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told about 3,500 U.S. hospitals that as of Oct. 1, they won’t be reimbursed for such so-called “never events” that patients should never acquire during a hospital stay. The dozen treatment areas on the list are considered “reasonably preventable” and aren’t present when a patient checks in.

In an Aug. 19 final rule, the government estimated that some $21 million would be saved annually by not paying for 500,000 follow-up procedures to correct complications from the hospital hall of horrors. That’s a drop in the catheter compared with the $110 billion in payments Medicare makes to hospitals each year. 

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