CO hospitals consider waiving payment for adverse events

OK, so it's not a big breakthrough, but something is going on here. It looks like the Colorado Hospital Association (CHA) may soon nudge its members into waiving payments for some adverse events, following in the steps of Massachusetts and Minnesota hospitals. If it does so, the CHA will be only the third state group to do so. Minnesota hospitals have had such a policy for a while, and Massachusetts hospitals took a similar stand last week.

The CHA task force on pricing, which has been meeting since May, is currently developing recommendations for a never-event payment policy, though according to a spokesperson, the group has no firm plans to implement such a policy in the near future. Still, with Medicare planning to cease payment for common adverse events next year, expect to see Colorado and other state associations move forward with voluntary policies of this kind in coming months.

To find out more about the deliberations:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece

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