This New York Times article reports that Medicare will no longer pay for medical care when the patient is injured by the hospital.  How might Medicaid go in the future?  What are the implications down the line for long-term care facilities?

From the New York Times article by Kevin Sack:

Medicare, which provides coverage for the elderly and disabled, has put 10 “reasonably preventable” conditions on its initial list, saying it will not pay when patients receive incompatible blood transfusions, develop infections after certain surgeries or must undergo a second operation to retrieve a sponge left behind from the first. Serious bed sores, injuries from falls and urinary tract infections caused by catheters are also on the list.

Officials believe that the regulations could apply to several hundred thousand hospital stays of the 12.5 million covered annually by Medicare. The policy will also prevent hospitals from billing patients directly for costs generated by medical errors.

Because Medicare is the largest insurer in the country, its decision to refuse payment for preventable conditions has already influenced others - public and private - to set similar criteria.

Click here to read the entire article.

One wonders if this could be a slippery slope with Medicaid and long-term care.  What happens when a nursing home fails to meet a “reasonably preventable” injury?  The implications here are staggering, one would think.

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