Rendell estimated that such complications added billions of dollars annually to the cost of health care in Pennsylvania.

Medicare's new rules support Rendell's contention that the state is not required to pay for the resulting care, said Rosemarie B. Greco, director of the Governor's Office for Healthcare Reform.

The financial power of Medicare plus the added influence of state Medicaid spending are likely to propel progress in the fight against medical errors. And the industry has little choice but to join the effort.

"Hospitals believe that these are reasonable approaches and that for things that were truly preventable there should not be an additional payment," said Paula Bussard, senior vice president for policy at the Hospital and HealthSystem Association of Pennsylvania.

New Medicare Rules in Brief

What

In an effort to improve patient care and to cut

costs, Medicare will stop reimbursing hospitals for the costs of treating certain medical errors and other preventable conditions.

When

Oct. 1, 2007: Bills to Medicare will begin indicating preexisting vs. hospital-acquired conditions.

Oct. 1, 2008: Medicare will end payments for conditions (listed below) that developed in the hospital; patients cannot be charged.

Local impact

Total cases of affected conditions (including preexisting) reported by all 66 general hospitals in the eight-county region last year:

Condition that will not be covered              Number of cases

Catheter-associated urinary-tract infections           362

Objects left in body during surgery                   46

Air embolism (obstructive air bubble)                     1

Incompatible blood type                                 9

Vascular catheter-associated infections*             2,033

Mediastinitis (infection after heart bypass)               11