From: BEEBECKER@...
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 17:07:35 EDT
Subject: Medicare May Refuse Payments To Docs, Hosps For Serious Medical Errors
To: BEEBECKER@...

http://www.modernhealthcare.com/dailydose/2006-05-17_dailydose.html#ts1

Medicare may refuse payment for 'never events'

CMS Administrator Mark McClellan said he wants Medicare to stop reimbursing hospitals and physicians for procedures and services resulting in so-called "never events" -- serious medical errors such as wrong-site surgeries, mismatched blood infusions and preventable post-operative deaths. McClellan also told the Senate Finance Committee the agency does not plan at this time to extend a suspension on Medicare payments to new physician-owned specialty hospitals past Aug. 8. McClellan said the CMS "is undertaking" an analysis using the list of 27 never events developed by the National Quality Forum as a starting point and he hopes to have a decision on a non-payment policy "as soon as possible." "Hospital payments should be based on the premise of supporting higher quality and efficiency," he said. "Paying for never events, and in many cases paying more for such events, is contrary to this goal." -- by Matthew DoBias