Hundreds of Hospitals Penalized for Medical Mistakes
786 hospitals will see their Medicare payments slashed one percent for a year because of their performance under Medicare’s hospital-acquired conditions reduction program. That program penalizes the 25 percent of hospitals with the highest rate of patient safety problems, such as infections and injuries. Among the more interesting aspects of this year’s program results: Among those being penalized are seven of the 21 hospitals on the S. News “best hospitals” list. Three hospitals also on that list have never been penalized. 145 hospitals will be penalized for the first time. 16 hospitals that have been penalized every year since the [...]