Medicare to Stop Paying Hospital for Added Cost of Hospital Errors

From the New York Times:  Medicare recently began applying a congressional mandate that it will no longer pay hospitals for the added costs of treating patients who are injured in the hospital's care.

An initial list of incidents that Medicare deemed "reasonably preventable" and will not pay hospitals for these occurrences includes; incompatible blood transfusions, sponges left in after procedures, serious bed sores, hospital falls, and urinary tract infections caused by catheters.

The Times article adds that other insurers have enacted similar provisions, such as Medicaid denying payment for so-called "never events", events that are never supposed to happen under a hospital's care.

Implicit in this article is the unfortunate reality that day-to-day many of these events that should not occur when medical facilities provide proper care and ensure compliance with health and safety standards, do in fact occur.  If you or a loved one have been a victim of medical malpractice, while a patient of a hospital or another medical provider, the please call the medical malpractice attorneys at Gray and White Law.  The attorneys at Gray and White Law have experience in many areas of medical malpractice litigation.  If you have any questions, please contact us for a free consultation.