Pennsylvania has become the third state in the country whose hospitals promise not to charge for care delivery that results in serious medical errors.
The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania on Tuesday announced its support of a policy under which the hospitals won't receive payments for preventable serious adverse events, for example, such as surgery performed on the wrong body part and serious medication errors.
The move follows similar actions by hospital groups in Massachusetts and Minnesota. The hospital made its announcement to support a policy espoused by the state's Department of Public Welfare, which simultaneously was announced by Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell.
Hospital groups are under increasing pressure to reduce serious medical mistakes and, if they occur, not to charge for them. The Department of Health and Human Services is pushing an initiative to refuse to pay hospitals in the event of certain "never events," and The Leapfrog Group has been seeking individual hospital commitments to not charge for serious medical errors.
"Pennsylvania's hospitals have worked collaboratively with the Department of Public Welfare on the development of a workable policy to address when payment will not be made under the state's Medical Assistance program," said Paula Bussard, the association's senior vice president for policy and regulatory services.
"This new policy provides guidance for hospitals and the Medical Assistance program that will assure that payments are made to hospitals for medically necessary services, and not made when preventable serious adverse events occur during a hospitalization," Bussard added.
The policy, which takes effect this month, standardizes Pennsylvania hospitals' ongoing efforts to prevent adverse medical events. The policy will apply to preventable serious adverse events that occur during an inpatient stay for acute care hospital patients who are covered by the state's Medical Assistance program.
At press time, it was not known if hospitals would honor similar policies for patients covered by other programs, such as Medicare or private payers.
"Community hospitals are committed to doing everything possible to eliminate these types of events, and until we do, we should not expect payment from the Medical Assistance program for those that occur," Bussard added. "This policy represents another important step in Pennsylvania hospitals' efforts to provide the best possible care to each person who comes through our doors."
Is your state or hospital association considering a similar policy? Or do you feel that such policies will be difficult to enforce or will raise related issues for hospitals? Editor Fred Bazzoli is covering this issue and would like to hear from you. Please email him at fred.bazzoli@medtechpublishing.com