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MA hospitals forswear payment for preventable errors

November 21, 2007 — 7:59am ET
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The Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA) has announced that its members no longer plan to charge patients or health plans for treatments required to address problems related to preventable errors taking place in their facility. The announcement makes Massachusetts the second state whose hospitals have voluntarily made such a pledge, following on a September announcement by Minnesota providers. It's probably not the last, though, as Medicare will stop paying for some critical adverse events starting October 2008, and many hospitals want to take a stand on the issue ahead of time.

Under the new policy, hospitals will stop requesting payment for any of nine National Quality Forum-defined events, including wrong-site and wrong-patient surgery, patient death or disability due to wrong use of blood or blood products and medication errors, as well as any follow-up care needed to bring the patient back from such errors. The MHA says that it will expand the list once its members get used to the current policy.

To learn more about the MHA's stand:
- read this Healthcare Finance News piece

Related Articles:
By 2008, Medicare won't pay for hospital errors. Report
Business say 'no pay' for major mistakes. Report
Study: Wrong-site surgeries, close calls are common. Report

Comments (2) | Post a comment

Comments

By Mark Singh MD | Posted 10:29pm | November 22, 2007

I read the list of the type of error to which this policy will apply. I did not see much Grey in the list, its fairly black and white. These are all events which are definite errors. Where there may problems, would be in the case of wounds and infections. In these cases, its hard to know if an error actually led to the adverse event. This is the "Grey" area where the implementation of this policy could be problematic.
Mark Singh MD
http://clinicore.blogspot.com/

By Anonymous | Posted 5:11pm | August 13, 2008

I believe that some of the superbug strains we have out here in the health industry can adversely affect the overall condition of the clients in our care. If proper infection control policies are followed as promulgated by the hospital, nursing homes, or home health settings,
no one will have to worry about what they come home with from the hospital.
Their are many clients who are at risk, and need
to be shown how to protect themselves. Physicians
need to share with their interdisciplinary teams
that improper handling of soiled linens, dressings, etc. are not acceptable practice.
We all need to do our part to ensure the safety
and welfare of the general population.

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