Over 2,200 Hospitals Could Be Penalized in October from ObamaCare Rules (health care, regular)
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A provision of ObamaCare is set to punish roughly two-thirds of U.S. hospitals evaluated by Medicare starting this fall over high readmission rates, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health News.
Starting in October, Medicare will reduce reimbursements to hospitals with high 30-day readmission rates — which refers to patients who return within a month — by as much as 1 percent. The maximum penalty increases to 2 percent the following year and 3 percent in 2014.
Doctors are concerned the penalty is unfair, since sometimes they have to accept patients more than once in a brief period of time but could be penalized for doing so — even for accepting seniors who are sick.
“Among patients with heart failure, hospitals that have higher readmission rates actually have lower mortality rates,” said Sunil Kripalani, MD, a professor with Vanderbilt University Medical Center who studies hospital readmissions. “So, which would we rather have — a hospital readmission or a death?”
Good question? Right after the question, there’s this.
But according to federal government figures, nearly one in five Medicare patients is readmitted to a hospital within 30 days of release, costing taxpayers an estimated $17.5 billion.
“Readmissions has been a low-hanging fruit for Medicare,” said Jordan Rau, a staff writer with KHN, an editorially independent program of the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “They’ve been very unhappy that about 2 million Medicare beneficiaries are being readmitted every year between 30 days of discharge.”
Medicare evaluated readmission rates at 3,367 of the nation’s hospitals and will impose penalties on 2,211 starting in October, according to KHN.
What’s the priority here? If you want care for every single citizen, then don’t penalize hospitals for repeat visits. Now if costs becomes priority #1, then you appear to be OK with dying patients for the sake of the dollar.
What’s interesting is that this was the basis for the ObamaCare argument to begin with – people who are uninsured who are dying without sufficient care. So now the insurance barrier is removed and now the government starts penalizing the care providers. So you are taking money out of the hospitals ability to care for the patients.
Government needs to be removed from the revenue stream of the health care industry.
And typically old people are the ones that get readmitted.
I do honestly wonder what this will do regarding hospital admissions of people on medicare.
Will they refuse readmission and tell them to go to another hospital ?
But according to federal government figures, nearly one in five Medicare patients is readmitted to a hospital within 30 days of release, costing taxpayers an estimated $17.5 billion.
.
Wonder how much it would cost if those 2 million are kept in the hospital for "how many extra' days or weeks.
Wonder how much it would cost if those 2 million are kept in the hospital for "how many extra' days or weeks.
They won't be able to.
For example, they have decided each disease presentation gets X number of days in the hospital. They will pay a package rate based on that estimate.
They will not pay a cent more for any time spent after those days.
And then they want to complain about readmission rates?
Wonder how much it would cost if those 2 million are kept in the hospital for "how many extra' days or weeks.
If government was out of the equation - 1) costs would be down, and 2) people would be on the hook for it themselves. You're question would then not apply.
They won't be able to.
For example, they have decided each disease presentation gets X number of days in the hospital. They will pay a package rate based on that estimate.
They will not pay a cent more for any time spent after those days.
And then they want to complain about readmission rates?
I mean, seriously?
So messed up.
Exactly!
I do have to admit there might be some things that could help .One thing comes to mind.
A couple of hospitals we've been to call a few days after discharge to see how the patient is doing.....most have not.
Many people do not adhere to the folllowups that are indicated on discharge and these calls might bring up the opportunity to address such issues.
Causes of avoidable readmissions include hospital-acquired infections and other complications; premature discharge; failure to coordinate and reconcile medications; inadequate communication among hospital personnel, patients, caregivers, and community-based clinicians; and poor planning for care transitions.
Translation: Hospitals need to work on quality of care as opposed to pushing them out the door prematurely.
Quote:
Consider Trinity Health, which owns 50 hospitals around the country, including Holy Cross in Silver Spring, Md. Before patients leave the hospital, Trinity's nurses now set up appointments for them with their regular doctors. They also make sure patients can get to the appointment, either by helping them figure out whether Medicare or Medicaid pays for transportation, or by paying for the trips directly.
"We're trying to do a better job of sending them home better-prepared, rather than just saying good luck," says Dr. Terry O'Rourke, Trinity's chief clinical officer. But he says there are limits to what they can do: "The majority of physicians are not employed by the hospital, and we don't have control over their practices."
That's a mighty big assumption that it's 100% the hospital's fault for patient readmissions.
Yes, I know that is what the government is telling us, but reality is quite different.
As seniors age their bodies give out and readmissions over the same problem are quite common and none of that is the fault of the hospital.
It's unrealistic to expect hospitals to meet these goals and blame hospitals 100% as the cause.
And aging body and chronic illness plays no part ?
And for pushing them out the door prematurely, that is what medicare states, not the hospitals.
If premature hospital release was the cause then why isn't medicare extending coverage time to allow more time spent in those hospitals ?
You're being told a fairy tale here and you are believing it.
Last edited by HappyTexan; 08-27-2012 at 01:57 PM..
Obamacare fixes nothing. They were screaming at the cameras that people are going to die...well people are still going to die but it will cost everyone much, much more. Fixes not a thing.
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