CMS plans to add more preventable conditions to list
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
May 7, 2008
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to add nine more hospital-acquired conditions to the existing list of conditions for which it will not pay, reports American Medical News. The current list of eight conditions will not be paid for as of October 2008. The list of additional conditions includes:
- Surgical-site infections after total knee replacement, laparoscopic gastric bypass and gastroenterostomy, or ligation and stripping of varicose veins
- Legionnaires' disease
- Diabetic ketoacidosis, nonketotic hyperosmolar coma, diabetic coma, or hypoglycemic coma
- Iatrogenic pneumothorax
- Delirium
- Ventilator-associated pneumonia
- Deep-vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism
- Staphylococcus aureus septicemia
- Clostridium difficile-associated disease
CMS is seeking comment on these proposed additions. Some observers say this new set of conditions shows CMS' unwavering stance on hospital-acquired conditions. Others see these additions as too much too fast, says the article, because many facilities will be struggling with the first eight conditions. CMS will issue a final rule on August 1, 2008.
To read the article, click here.
