More no-pay items offered for Medicare hospital-error list
WASHINGTON - Federal health officials yesterday proposed adding dangerous blood clots in the leg and eight other conditions to the list of complications that Medicare would not pay to treat if they were acquired at the hospital.
WASHINGTON - Federal health officials yesterday proposed adding dangerous blood clots in the leg and eight other conditions to the list of complications that Medicare would not pay to treat if they were acquired at the hospital.
Medicare set a new precedent last year by saying it would no longer pay hospitals for treating certain "never events" - conditions that occur as a result of hospital error. For example, if a patient were given the wrong blood type, Medicare would not pay the hospital more for the subsequent care a patient required. Originally, eight conditions were covered under the new rules, which take effect Oct. 1.
The rules proposed yesterday add nine conditions, including:
Deep-vein thrombosis, or a blood clot within the vascular system, which occurred in 140,010 cases for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia, which occurred in 30,867 cases.
Bloodstream infections with the staph aureus bacteria, 27,737 cases.
Legionnaire's disease, which occurred in 351 cases.
Medicare's policy often sets precedent for private insurers, and many of them have already begun to adopt their own never-event policies.
The government estimates that the proposed rule will save Medicare $50 million annually during each of the next three years.