AHA shares opinion about CMS’ criteria for surgical errors
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
September 3, 2008
The American Hospital Association asked The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to consider a series of questions before issuing its final decision on withholding coverage for surgical errors in an August 28 letter. These questions would force CMS to evaluate how surgical errors are defined, how hospitals will take accountability for these errors, and what coverage will not be provided.
Additionally, the AHA recommended that there be an appeals process created for hospitals to use when they feel they have been unjustly denied coverage. Other types of questions it hopes CMS considers are what happens if a wrong-site procedure is started but then corrected during surgery? Is the hospital denied payment in that case as well?
To read the letter, click here.
