Medicare error means bigger penalties for some area hospitals
Medicare made a mistake.
In calculating the fines hospitals must pay for having too many patients readmitted within 30 days of being discharged, the government used some old data, according to NPR and Kaiser Health News.
It means that hospitals run by LewisGale Regional Health System and Carilion Clinic, are subject to slightly higher penalties, than what I previously shared on this blog.
“The changes were tiny, averaging two-hundreds of a percent of a hospital’s regular Medicare reimbursements,” Kaiser reported.
See a list of penalties by hospital all of the penalties here.
October 4, 2012 - 12:00 PM
@ sarah jones … according to Carilion’s website, 1 out 10 of their doctors don’t wash their hands… http://www.carilionclinic.org/Carilion/Quality_of_Care
You would think this is a basic premise to stop infection rates and reduce readdmission rates? How can 1 out of 10 not washing hands be good? Really?
Mike – That bar graph says nothing specifically about physicians. Those stats look to be for all employees of each healthcare facility. Digging for drama??
No. Was surprised to see this on a quality of care page. Even if not doctors, 1 out of 10 struck me has high. With bacterial infections becoming highly resistent to antibiotics and the spread of viruses like H1N1 this seems like such a simple correction to make. I called Carilion and they said they didnt know anything else. I thought Sarah could provide more context. Why is a question about handwashing in healthcare considered drama? This isnt 1890. Handwashing should be 100%, shouldn’t it? The risks of contaminated hands shouldn’t be so discounted… Ever hear of sepsis or mersa?