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As the coronavirus threatens the finances of thousands of hospitals, wealthy ones that can draw on millions — and even billions — of dollars in savings are in competition with near-insolvent hospitals for limited pots of financial relief.
A Kaiser Health News analysis shows that counties with ICUs average one ICU bed for every 1,300 older residents, those most at risk for needing hospitalization.
More nursing homes have been faulted for failing to follow practices designed to prevent and control infections than for any other type of error. Such lapses have become matters of heightened concern with the spread of the coronavirus this spring, especially as the virus is a bigger threat to the elderly.
Seema Verma, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, calls on state and federal health inspectors to focus on how facilities keep infections from spreading, especially in areas that have reported coronavirus cases.
Since the beginning of 2017, inspectors have cited more nursing homes for failing to ensure that all workers follow federal prevention and control protocols than for any other type of violation, according to federal records.
Medicare cut payments for 786 hospitals because of high infection and complication rates. They included a third of the hospitals proclaimed as the nation’s best in one prominent ranking.
Nonprofit hospitals admit they sent $2.7 billion in bills over the course of a year to patients who probably qualified for free or discounted care.
Starting today, Medicare is keeping half a billion dollars in payments from 83% of general hospitals for having too many patients come back.
Hospitals are eager to get particular specialists on staff because they bring in business that can be highly profitable. But those efforts, if they involve unusually high salaries or other enticements, can violate federal anti-kickback laws.
In its latest update to the Nursing Home Compare website, the government gave 1,638 homes its lowest star rating for staffing — one star on its five-star scale. Most were downgraded because payroll records reported no registered-nurse hours at all for at least four days.
Three-quarters of people urge action to keep patients from facing high medical costs when their insurance doesn’t cover the care, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll.
Inspectors are citing nursing facilities for violating health and safety more often than during the Obama administration. But the average fine is nearly a third lower than it was before President Donald Trump took office.
Details of the reductions have not yet been announced, but in 2017 Congress ordered mandated changes to make the military health system more efficient.
The penalties are part of a program set up by the Affordable Care Act to prompt hospitals to pay more attention to safety issues that can lead to injuries, such as falls or hospital-acquired infections.
Ski buff Sarah Witter will get $6,358.26 back from her hospital and insurer after a careful review of her bill following the KHN-NPR story on her case.
She took a bad fall on the slopes and her surgeon used a metal plate to put the splintered bones of her leg back together. When that device failed less than four months later, she and her insurer had to pay full price for the replacement plate.
An analysis of inspection records in California, Florida and Texas shows significant numbers of violations related to assisted living residents with dementia.
The incentive program to discourage nursing homes from discharging patients too quickly will also give bonuses to facilities with fewer rehospitalizations.
Medicare instructs inspectors to look for staffing inadequacies in homes that report suspiciously low numbers of registered nurses and weekend workers.
Premiums are lower as choices increase in many parts of the country. But the financial relief is not enough to erase the price hikes that have been imposed in recent years.
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