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Newspapers praise CMS decision on preventable errors

Quality Improvement Monitor, August 31, 2007

The Washington Times this week joined other major newspapers in praising CMS' decision not to pay for eight preventable errors after October 1, 2008.

"The cost of medical errors is substantial, and adding this incentive should help reduce the taxpayers' burden," the Washington Times editorial said.

Newspapers lauding CMS' final inpatient prospective payment system rule include the New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Austin Statesman.

The rule says that beginning October 1, 2008, CMS will not pay for the following eight conditions, unless they are documented as present on admission:

  • Serious preventable event: object left in surgery
  • Serious preventable event: air embolism
  • Serious preventable event: blood incompatibility
  • Catheter-associated urinary tract infections
  • Pressure ulcers
  • Vascular catheter-associated infection
  • Surgical site infection-mediastinitis after coronary artery bypass graft surgery
  • Patient falls

    (For a comprehensive look at the new rule, read the September issue of HCPro's Quality Improvement Report.)

    For more information, click here.

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