Teaching hospitals take brunt of medical error penalties
Half of U.S. teaching hospitals are being penalized by Medicare for high rates of infection and medical errors.
Medicare will withhold $373 million in penalties from 721 hospitals nationwide, inlcuding some of the most highly recognized institutions such as Cleveland Clinic, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa.
One out of every seven hospitals in the nation will have their Medicare payments lowered by 1 percent over the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The Affordable Care Act mandates the reductions for the quarter of hospitals that Medicare assessed as having the highest rates of hospital-acquired conditions. This year some hospitals may lose up to 5 percent of Medicare reimbursements.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.